Commission seeks closer ties with Latin America to fight drug trafficking

The European Commission will seek partnerships with Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru during its next mandate for better access to data linked to drug trafficking networks, the EU business commissioner said internal affairs at a conference in Brussels this week.

Ylva Johansson spoke at an 'EU Against Crime' event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of cooperation between the EU executive and police agency Europol. She noted that similar agreements had been concluded with Australia, Canada and the United States and, more recently, with Colombia, and that negotiations were underway with other Latin American states.

“Europe is safer than four years ago, but the world is more dangerous,” Johansson said at the event. In a joint intervention, she and Europol Director Catherine De Bolle both said that organized criminal networks are increasingly dangerous, international and powerful. Europol recently carried out an in-depth mapping of the most threatening criminal networks. Johansson said that “it takes a network to fight a network,” emphasizing the need to develop international cooperation.

The commissioner told the meeting that the three biggest threats to Europe were organized crime, terrorism and online predators, noting that these threats were growing. According to Johansson, there are currently 2.5 million predators online, up from 700,000 in 2009. All of these bad actors thrive online, highlighting the need to develop “the right skills and tools.” We need appropriate resources and we need access to data” to counter their actions.

Access to data remains a thorny subject for the Commission, which has proposed giving authorities access to users' encrypted conversations on platforms to combat the sharing of images of child abuse online. The proposal was criticized by civil rights advocates online and its legality was questioned by the EU Council's legal service. “We need to find the right balance between privacy and security, and we are not there yet,” Johansson said at the meeting, adding that “during the next term it will be necessary to find a solution for legal access to the data”.