Tackling the citizens’ primary concerns

Date: 30/11/1995

ALL too often ordinary members of the public complain that the European Union is doing little to tackle the problems which concern them most.

While they may benefit directly or indirectly from policy and legislative initiatives emanating from the Union's institutions, their true significance is not always immediately apparent because of the complexities of the issues involved.

That is just one of the many reasons why the new strategy to combat drug abuse set to be agreed by EU leaders at next month's summit in Madrid is to be warmly welcomed.

The EU's success or otherwise in combating crime and drug trafficking will have a direct impact on the quality of life of its 370 million citizens. The growing demand for action is one which must be answered if the EU is to have any real credibility with its citizens.

What the public needs is a clear sign from European politicians, diplomats and bureaucrats that they are prepared to tackle the issues which worry ordinary people most, instead of devoting most of their attention to devising grand strategies for the Union's economic and political development.

That concern has already been acknowledged by those who argue that the most important task facing next year's Intergovernmental Conference is to strengthen the justice and home affairs 'pillar' of the Maastricht Treaty, giving the EU greater powers to tackle just such problems.

There will be many issues on the agenda for Madrid of crucial importance to the future of the EU: agreeing on a name and scenario for the transition to a single currency, discussions on the impact that admitting more countries would have on existing EU policies, and preparations for the IGC, to name but a few. But these are complex issues which many members of the public find difficult to understand.

Drug abuse and the illicit trade in drugs which has become the scourge of modern society are, however, problems of direct concern to ordinary people, many of whom have first hand experience of the impact of drugs on their own children or those of friends or acquaintances.

Whether you believe, as the Dutch do, that laxer laws on soft drugs help combat the problem, or that they actually exacerbate it, is not at issue here. All agree on the need to crack down on the criminals who bring misery to millions - and in a border-free Union, this can only be achieved through closer cooperation between the EU's institutions and member states.

But in addition to the new strategy to be agreed at Madrid, a way must also be found around the problems which continue to beset the fledging criminal intelligence agency Europol. The dispute over what role, if any, the European Court of Justice should have in its operations must be settled at the summit.

For if EU leaders cannot resolve an institutional dispute which threatens to undermine their whole approach to crime-fighting, their new strategy for combating the drugs problem will be greeted with understandable scepticism.