Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the  Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (COM(2005) 399 final — 2005/0166 (COD))
Date: 2006-01-18
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: ESC opinion, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, institutional cooperation, non-governmental organisation, operation of the Institutions, powers of the institutions (EU)

C 69/22

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

21.3.2006

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction’

(COM(2005) 399 final — 2005/0166 (COD))

(2006/C 69/05)

On 18 January 2006 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 14 November 2005. The rapporteur was
Mr Olsson.

At its 423rd plenary session, held on 18-19 January 2006 (meeting of 18 January), the European Economic
and Social Committee adopted the following opinion nem. con. with 33 votes in favour and 1 abstention.

1. Introduction

1.1
At the end of October 2003 the Commission presented
a recast proposal for Council Regulation (EEC) No 302/93
(COM(2003)808) on the establishment of a European Centre
for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

The legal basis was Article 308 of the Treaty.

2.3
The EESC also draws attention to the draft inter-institu-
tional agreement on the operating framework for European
regulatory agencies, which states that the agencies must be
organised in such a way as to guarantee the participation of
interested parties and a high level of transparency (3). Among
other things, it calls for representatives of interested parties to
be designated as members of the management board. In addi-
tion, reference is made to the White Paper on European
governance.

the Council

After discussions at

1.2
it was decided to
change the legal basis of the proposal to Article 152, which
implies use of the co-decision procedure with the European
Parliament. At the same time, on the basis of the discussions at
the Council, minor changes were made to the proposed Regu-
lation, which were presented at the end of August 2005.

3. Specific comments on some Articles of the proposal

3.1 Article 5 — European Information Network

2. General comments

The EESC issued an opinion on the first proposal

2.1
in
October 2004 (1). The standpoints taken then form the basis
for the present opinion, in particular the view that civil society
organisations that deal with drug issues should be involved in
the work of the EMCDDA.

2.2
The EESC welcomes the changed legal basis for the
proposal. Proper consultation with the European Parliament is
natural here, not least in order to guarantee public transparency
in the EMCDDA. Under the new proposal (2), the Parliament is
given an enhanced role, including the right to designate two
independent experts with specialist knowledge in the field of
drugs as members of the Centre's management board. The
Committee strongly recommends that
the two independent
experts should be from NGOs with expertise in the field of
drugs.

(1) Opinion on the Proposal

for a Council Regulation on the European
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, rapporteur-general:
Mr Olsson, OJ C 120, 20.5.2005.
(2) COM(2005) 399 final, Article 9.

The European Information Network consists of national focal
points which form an interface between the participating coun-
tries and the Centre. The focal points would collect and analyse
information at national
in accordance with guidelines
issued by the Centre. Each focal point would also receive an
annual grant from the EU for its work, which would be regu-
lated through a ‘grant agreement for action’.

level

The Committee recommends that the Centre's guidelines and
agreements with Member States should require the focal points
to work together with national organisations, including NGOs,
which are active in the drugs field.

This should also be made clear in Article 5(2) by amending the
third sentence to read as follows: ‘They shall collect and analyse
at national level, in cooperation with experts and organisations in
the field, all relevant information on drugs and drug addiction,
as well as on policies and solutions applied’.

(3) COM (2005)59 final and COM(2002) 718 final.

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 69/23

3.2 Article 20 — Cooperation with other national and international

organisations and bodies

be able to invite representatives of international organisations
to participate as observers.

According to the Regulation, the Centre would actively seek
the cooperation of international organisations and other, parti-
cularly European, governmental and non-governmental agen-
cies competent in the sector of drugs. Such cooperation would
be based on working arrangements concluded with the afore-
mentioned authorities and which are the subject of an opinion
by the Commission. In addition, the management board would

With a view to ensuring that these organisations participate on
a more systematic and regular basis, the Committee proposes
that a cooperation body be set up through the addition to
Article 20 of the following text:
‘The Centre shall appoint a
contact group comprising representatives of organisations competent
in the field of drugs in order to examine how cooperation shall be
arranged’.

Brussels, 18 January 2006.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND