On discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction for the financial year 2022

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1.Welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’) has declared the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (the 'Centre’) for the financial year 2022 to be legal and regular in all material respects; notes that, according to the Court’s Annual Report on EU agencies for the year 2022, its budget in 2022 amounted to EUR 26 million, an increase of 4% compared to 2021 (EUR 25 million), while its staff number remained unchanged pursuant to the decision of the relevant Budgetary authority;

2.Welcomes that appropriated corrective actions were taken to address the Court’s previous years observation; welcomes the yearly flagship publication, the European Drug Report 2022, the Statistical Bulletin 2022 and the added value of the EU Early Warning System on new psychoactive substances run by the Centre for 25 years in 2022; welcomes the release of 69 publications, among which seven miniguides and three spotlights under the Centre’s flagship report “Health and social responses to drug problems: a European guide”; welcomes the organization of the fourth European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies jointly organized by the Centre and its partners; encourages the Centre to continue in its knowledge sharing activities;

3.Welcomes the drug-related training activities with participation of 609 law enforcement professionals from the EU and technical cooperation project partners delivered by the Centre in cooperation with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL); welcomes that almost 950 professionals working in the drugs field, including law enforcement officers and policy makers, received Centre training during 2022, while around 1 200 professionals working in the drugs field attended the seven webinars organized by Centre; highlights the important role of the Centre in providing policy-makers and practitioners with public-health-based analyses and information concerning drugs and drug addiction;

4.Welcomes the Centre’s unremitting efforts to highlight the social aspects and societal impact of drugs, promote social re-integration policies for drug users, and approach the topic of drugs with a multi-disciplinary outlook; considers it essential to continue raising awareness of the importance of prevention and innovative mental-health-based approach to drugs policies;

5.Recalls that the Center’s work is based on a strategic evidence-based health and security threat assessment capability to identify at an early stage new developments of the drugs phenomenon that have the potential to impact negatively on health, social matters, safety or security in the Union; recalls the health-treath assesment should be equally reflected in the Centre’s work;

6.Welcomes the progress made by the Centre on the joint EU Drug Markets: In-depth analysis, in collaboration with Europol, with modules on specific drugs released throughout 2022 and with planned releases in 2023; welcomes the work in 2022 on improving the quality and availability of core supply data in collaboration with the Reitox National Focus Points and Europol; welcomes the implementation of all of the Centre’s tasks under the Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats operational action plans on cannabis, cocaine and heroin; recalls that drug trafficking has been identified as a main source of profit and a channel of recruitment of organized crime and terrorism, and highlights the contribution of the Centre to a more secure Europe;

7.Welcomes the resource page, EMCDDA 4 Ukraine, created for professionals working in the drugs field in Europe supporting people displaced from Ukraine;

8.Welcomes the ongoing cooperation between the Centre and European Neighbourhood Policy partner countries at regional level, through the EU4MD technical assistance project, as well as the ongoing implementation of the bilateral project with Georgia EMCDDA4GE; welcomes the establishing of official partnership in the Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies;

9. Welcomes the Centre’s cooperation with other agencies and its contribution to the JHA agencies’ network; welcomes the Centre’s continuous cooperation with national drugs agencies, third countries and international organizations such as UNODC and the WHO;

The rapporteur declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not receive input from any entity or person to be mentioned in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.