This month, the EMCDDA has embarked on work under the EMCDDA Programming Document 2018–20, adopted by the agency’s Management Board on 14 December 2017. This document, which includes the annual work programme for 2018, falls at the crossroads between two strategies — the EMCDDA Strategy 2016–18 and the new EMCDDA Strategy 2025. Built on the structure of the former, it reflects the vision, values, guiding principles and long-term direction of travel of the latter.
At the heart of the new document is the EMCDDA’s vision ‘to contribute to a healthier and more secure Europe’, via efforts to improve the health and security of people living in the EU. This overarching commitment will drive the agency in the coming years and guide it in delivering added value to its stakeholders.
Among the highlights foreseen for the period 2018–20 will be: the review and improvement of the existing drug monitoring tools (complemented by the increased use of innovative approaches to identify, track and monitor new trends); ongoing implementation of a new regulation on new psychoactive substances (NPS); improvements to the format and content of the annual European Drug Report; and the release of the next editions of the EMCDDA–Europol EU Drug Markets Report (2019) and the Health and social responses to drug use: a European guide (2020). The EMCDDA will also scale up its support for the European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs (ESPAD), ahead of the 2019 data-collection round.
This three-year period will also see the implementation of a new Reitox Development Framework and a new EMCDDA International Cooperation Framework. Better understanding of the global dimension of the drug phenomenon is vital for tackling threats to the EU. In this area, work with EU priority third countries will be enhanced through the implementation of European Commission-funded technical assistance projects for candidate and potential candidate countries (IPA 6 and IPA 7 projects) and for neighbouring countries respectively (EU4 Monitoring Drugs project).
In 2018, the European Commission will undertake the fourth external evaluation of the EMCDDA, providing the agency with the information needed to further improve performance and successfully implement Strategy 2025. Finally, the agency will carry out a mid-term assessment of Strategy 2025, the findings of which will inform the new Roadmap (to 2025) and reshape, as needed, its work during the second half of this new programming period.
The EMCDDA budget for 2018 totals around EUR 16.1 million (EUR 15.4 million EU subsidy, plus a contribution of some EUR 413 000 from Norway and EUR 276 500 from Turkey).
The EMCDDA Programming Document 2018–20 will be published in February.