After an intensive day of conference against a maritime backdrop, there is a long list of work to do, but also a clear will: "We want to work together to ensure maximum investigative pressure on the drug cartels," said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) in Hamburg at the end of the meeting of the coalition of European states against serious and organized crime and drug trafficking. The brutal billion-dollar business must be contained and the perpetrators must be stopped. “We must urgently prevent Germany from experiencing a massive spiral of violence, as we are already experiencing in other European countries.”
Sweden accepted into the coalition as a new member
The conference in the Maritime Museum of the Hanseatic city was the third meeting of the coalition of European states against serious and organized crime. Representatives from the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy and France traveled as members of the alliance. The Swedish Interior and Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer also took part in the meeting. The Scandinavian country has now been accepted into the coalition as the seventh member, explained Faeser. Representatives of the European Union and South American countries also took part.
The result of the conference: the “Hamburg Declaration”. In it, Faeser and her colleagues identify the prevention of drug trafficking in South American countries through cooperation with local partners, improved security at European seaports and airports, and the dismantling of international criminal networks as the main goals. The latter should be achieved in particular by interrupting the flow of criminal money. “We also have to talk about necessary investments in the ports.” However, it's not just about the federal government giving more money, but everyone involved, including the economy, must invest more in security.
Faeser: Deep sea ports must become safer
"We must make our deep-sea ports so safe that they can no longer be gateways for tons of cocaine," said Faeser. "This includes: tight controls, high levels of vigilance and effective corruption prevention in companies in the ports - and close cooperation between all actors, from customs and police to shipping companies and terminal operators." The states called on the European Union to implement the measures as a priority in the next legislative period. In total, the declaration lists 21 individual points.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, at least 43 tons of cocaine were seized in Germany alone in 2023, including around 34 tons in Hamburg. 116 tons were found in Belgium and around 59 tons in the Netherlands. The Port of Hamburg is the third largest seaport in Europe after Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Antwerp (Belgium). “How strongly we act is also shown by the over 1,700 executed arrest warrants that were issued in the EncroChat proceedings against organized crime,” said Faeser. However, it is clear that the drug trade must be stopped much earlier, namely before the large quantities of cocaine even reach the ports.
"We know that 70 percent of the cocaine that comes to Europe comes through our ports," said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. International drug trafficking is not only a threat to European security, but also to democracy, she stressed. The organized criminal groups are strong, professional and extremely violent, but also very international.
European strategy against globally networked perpetrators
Hamburg's mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) said at the start of the meeting that the drug cartels wanted to supply the European market, where the highest prices were paid, with cocaine as safely as possible. To do this, they chose what they considered to be the easiest paths. "That's why we should have a European strategy that covers all European ports." It should not happen that crime is suppressed in Rotterdam and Antwerp and then builds up in Hamburg.
"We know that we are dealing with a highly professional, internationally networked, very dangerous organized crime structure," said Hamburg's Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD). That is why an even more powerful international security alliance is necessary. The police union (GdP) welcomed the meeting of international politicians. It is important that the EU countries with the largest seaports in Europe want to expand their import controls and coordinate closely with each other, said GdP Federal Vice President Alexander Poit.
In order to prevent the import of drugs into Europe, the GdP believes it is also necessary to focus more attention on port employees. “The drug cartels repeatedly succeed in blackmailing and threatening individual port workers so that the containers loaded with drugs can be taken out of the ports uncontrolled,” said Poit.
