{"id":89494,"date":"2024-02-29T08:40:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T07:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/mafias-organisations-criminelles-et-trafics-de-stupefiants-en-europe\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T16:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:31:08","slug":"mafias-organisations-criminelles-et-trafics-de-stupefiants-en-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/mafias-organisations-criminelles-et-trafics-de-stupefiants-en-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Mafias, criminal organisations and drug trafficking in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Various events and recent news (highlighting the growing influence and corruption of criminal organisations in Belgium and the Netherlands<\/a>, the French government\u2019s announcement that<\/a> customs would be stepped up to deal with the increasing infiltration of French ports by drug mafias, the growing number of settlements of scores in the south of France etc.) tend to show that mafias are occupying an increasingly large area in Europe, and no longer just in Italy. Is this media coverage proportionate to reality? Is the weight and influence of criminal organisations on legal institutions increasing? And what are the risks of this trend becoming more pronounced? To shed some light on these questions, Marie S\u00e9gur interviewed Clotilde Champeyrache, a specialist in these issues at the Conservatoire national des arts et m\u00e9tiers.<\/h6>\n\n\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Are there any recent signs of an increase in drug-related crime in Europe?<\/h3>\n

C.C.: <\/strong>Yes, drug trafficking is booming on the European continent,[1]<\/a><\/sup> as it is everywhere else in the world. There are several reasons for this:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The globalised liberal economy <\/strong>has been a facilitating factor in the trafficking of drugs and counterfeit medicines, thanks to the increase in the flow of goods, which means that larger volumes of products can be moved, but also because the logic of profit has taken precedence over security policies. The Port of Rotterdam Authority 2021 annual report<\/a> is a perfect example. In it, the port authority tends to shirk its responsibility for the criminal activities that may take place in the port: \u201cTackling subversive crime is a challenge facing society as a whole that, strictly speaking, is not the responsibility of the Port of Rotterdam Authority\u201d.[2]<\/a><\/sup> In this report, the port defends its competitiveness by highlighting the massification of flows, with an average rate of one container handled every six seconds. To slow down this rate for controls would be to risk losing money and customers to other ports. The reaction of the port\u2019s management is entirely revealing of the attitude of certain players in the legal economy, who only comply with the law according to a cost-benefit calculation in which the financial interest in defrauding or complying with the rules is assessed as a priority, far more than moral issues. More generally, it can be said that the relationship between the law and ethics is eroding in European societies. This is particularly true in France where, on an individual level, we are seeing an increase in refusals to comply with police orders, for example.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/strong> At the same time, this growth in drug trafficking can be explained by the diversification and normalisation of drug use <\/strong>\u2014\u00a0some users, for example, take cocaine to keep up with the pace of work\u00a0\u2014 as well as by the diversification of the supply <\/strong>itself and its greater accessibility, with a variety of products making it possible to adapt to supply shortages and user profiles (more or less young, more or less financially well-off); and undoubtedly also by the entrenchment of a certain social malaise in European societies, which explains the development of addictions.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n
\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Police Stop-and-Search Policies in Europe<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
26 February 2024<\/div>\n MAILLARD (de) Jacques<\/a>\n ROWE Mike<\/a>\n
\n 16 p.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Journal Article\n <\/a>\n Society<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n

The media regularly attribute to supposed \u2018mafias\u2019 the outrages (settling of scores or mass arrests by the police) linked to this trafficking.[3]<\/a><\/sup> But in your research, you stress the importance of the very definition of the term \u2018mafia\u2019. Could you give us that definition again and explain why you don\u2019t think it should be used indiscriminately?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

C.C.: There is <\/strong>really only one country in the world, Italy, which has legally defined the mafia, in article 416bis of its penal code. Paragraph 8 lists the specific characteristics of these networks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n