41 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the discussions, if any, which have taken place in recent weeks at the General Affairs Council of the EU on the Europe-wide drugs problem. [25485/99]

At the European Union level action against drug trafficking and drug misuse continues to be a major priority. A significant body of work has been taken forward in recent years involving the member states, the European Commission, the Europol Drugs Unit and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. This has been undertaken within the framework set by the EU Action Plan to Combat Drugs 1995-99, and the contemporary drug strategy agreed at the Madrid European Council in December 1995.

Recent European councils have continued to highlight the importance of making progress in this area, and at Tampere the European Council called for the adoption of the 2000-04 European Strategy against Drugs. The new strategy will replace the existing action plan which expires at the end of this year. Discussions at working group level on the new drugs strategy are almost finalised, and it is hoped that the new strategy will be ready for adoption at the meeting of the General Affairs Council on 6 December. Thereafter, the new strategy will be submitted to the Helsinki European Council for endorsement.