WRITTEN QUESTION E-3669/97 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (19 November 1997)

Subject: Transit of drugs through the Balkans

According to the Geopolitical Drugs Monitoring Unit based in Paris, large quantities of drugs produced in the Caucasus and Turkey are passing through the Bulgarian ports of Varna and Burgas en route to Western Europe.

A representative of the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior, Szandar Krumov, stated that hundreds of Turkish, Bulgarian and FYROM undertakings are engaged in drugs trafficking in Bulgaria and many of them are under police surveillance. As far as the quantity of drugs seized by the authorities is concerned, the Bulgarian official stated that in 1997 it amounts to 57.4 kilos of heroin and 530.9 kilos of hashish, quantities which the Geopolitical Drugs Monitoring Unit considers utterly inadequate, given the volume of drugs passing through the country and the amount of hashish and opium produced especially by ethnic Turks in the south of Bulgaria.

Will the Commission give its official view on this matter and say what measures it intends to take to put an end to the unchecked passage of drugs from Turkey and the surrounding region via Bulgaria to the EU, given that Bulgaria is receiving EU aid owing to its participation in the PHARE programme and that Turkey has signed the Customs Union agreement with the EU?

Answer given by Mrs Gradin on behalf of the Commission (13 January 1998)

The Commission is concerned about the smuggling of drugs through the Balkans route. At a ministerial meeting between the Community and Central and Eastern European countries in November 1996, South-eastern Europe was identified as a priority region for strengthening co-operation in drug law enforcement between the Member States and countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Commission under the Phare multi-country drugs programme - which is the principal financial instrument of the Community for co-operation with Central and Eastern Europe in the field of drugs - assists the Phare partner countries in their efforts to combat drug abuse and illicit trafficking of drugs. A joint United Nations international drug central programme (UNDCP)/Community/PHARE drug law enforcement programme in South-eastern Europe covering in a first phase Bulgaria, Romania and former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is in preparation in order to:

- strengthen controls against drug smuggling at the selected Black Sea ports of Varna, Burgas and Constanta;

- strengthen controls against drug smuggling at selected road border crossings in Romania;

- organise co-operation of control measures and strengthen detection capacities at road border crossings in Bulgaria and FYROM;

- strengthen controls against drug smuggling at selected airports (Sofia, Varna, Constanta, Bucharest, Timisoara, Skopje);

- develop systems for intelligence analysis gathering;

- create mechanisms and expertise for controlled deliveries.

The Community will also participate in a strategic operation planned by the World customs organisation (WCO) to combat drug smuggling in South-eastern Europe. This participation will be financed by the OISIN programme for the training and co-operation among law enforcement authorities ((OJ L 7, 10.1.1997. )) which is managed by the Commission.