Drugs, Italy exits the Council of Europe group

On the fight against drugs, Italy leaves the Council of Europe group dedicated to addictions. In the middle of its presidency and when work was already starting on a ministerial conference for the end of the year.

Surprise in Strasbourg at the letter with which the Meloni government communicated its decision to leave the Pompidou international cooperation body: 41 member states, expanded competences from policies to combat the spread of narcotics to new forms of addiction, including online, to alcohol and tobacco abuse.

Italy, one of the 7 founding countries of the intergovernmental network conceived in 1971 by the then French President Georges Pompidou, was elected in December 2022 for the first time to the presidency (which lasted 4 years) with a programme focused on 'Human Rights, the heart of drug and addiction policies'.

The formal exit will take place in 2026, but after the May letter with the intention of leaving the group, the presidency passed to Switzerland, already deputy. There has been no official communication from Palazzo Chigi, but the reason for the exit, according to leaks, was 'a lack of confidence in the concreteness of the body and a failure to share the line'. The dossier is followed directly by the undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, who in his speeches had called for unity, as well as criticising, among other things, 'experiences of legalisation'.

Membership of the Pompidou Group is one of the so-called partial agreements of the Council of Europe. Even Spain and Germany are out of it: but why leave now during the presidency? A question for the International Anti-Drug Day, a few hours after the presentation of the latest report to the Parliament on addiction.