What changed

B100059/2026

B100058/2026

European Parliament resolution on the murder of Mehdi Kessaci:Kessaci – urgent need for ambitious European action against drug trafficking

(2025/3020(RSP))

– having regard to the statement made by the Commission atmurder theof plenaryMehdi sittingKessaci ofon 1513 DecemberNovember 2025,

– having regard to the new drugs strategy published by the Commission on 4 December 2025,

– having regard to the Commission’s statement of 15 December 2025 on the murder of Mehdi Kessaci and the urgent need for ambitious action at European level against drug trafficking,

– having regard to the EU action plan against drug trafficking published by the Commission on 4 December 2025,

– having regard to the European Drug Report 2025 by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA),

– having regard to the report by Europol and the EUDA entitled ‘EU Drug Markets Analysis 2024: Key insights for policy and practice’,

– having regard to Europol’s 2025 European Union Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (2025 EU-SOCTA),

– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas Mehdi Kessaci, a 20-year-old man from Marseille, was shot dead in November 2025 in a targeted attack by armed men on a motorbike; whereas investigators believe the murder was a deliberate act of intimidation linked not to Mehdi himself, but to his older brother Amine Kessaci, a prominent anti-drug activist; whereas the murder has shocked France, triggered major public protests under the slogan ‘Justice for Mehdi’ and provoked strong political reactions, and whereas the authorities are treating the case as an act linked to organised crime and as a symbol of the escalation of violence by drug trafficking gangs in Marseille;

A. whereas Mehdi Kessaci was murdered in a mafia-style killing intended to intimidate his brother Amine and his family, who are involved in the fight against the scourge of drug trafficking, particularly in Marseille;

B. whereas, on 14 May 2024, the convoy taking drug trafficker Mohamed Amra to a court in Rouen was ambushed by a heavily armed group which used a car to ram the vehicle transporting him and then helped him escape; whereas two prison officers were killed and two others were disabled for life as a result of the attack; whereas Mohamed Amra was caught nine months later in Romania;

B. whereas this murder is part of the overall context of daily violence linked to drug trafficking, which is blighting entire neighbourhoods in our cities, and more recently rural areas;

C. whereas 40 % of criminal networks and 50 % of homicides in Europe, i.e. 1 800 to 2 200 in 2025, are linked to drug trafficking; whereas minors are often involved in networks as lookouts or sellers so as to take advantage of more lenient criminal penalties;

C. whereas there are countless victims of this lucrative trade; whereas these are both direct victims of the internal violence inherent in drug trafficking networks and indirect victims, who are collateral victims of drug-related score-settling, such as Socayna, a 24-year-old woman who died on 13 September 2023 after being hit by a stray bullet while in her bedroom in Marseille, and Fayed, aged 10, fatally shot in the head on 21 August 2023 while in his uncle’s car in Nîmes;

D. whereas more than 8 500 people in the EU died of an overdose in 2025;

D. whereas, given the level and scale of this violence, it is necessary to address narco-terrorism and to adapt political will and resources to this scale;

E. whereas several EU countries, including France, Belgium and the Netherlands, have recently identified drug trafficking as a priority threat to national security or to institutions and have taken action on the basis of this; whereas, in 2023-2024, more than 230 illegal production sites and dumps were dismantled, mainly in Belgium and the Netherlands;

E. whereas the rapid adaptation of drug trafficking requires flexible and operational responses on the ground;

F. whereas drug use is a health scourge affecting all sections of the population and has disastrous consequences, particularly for young people; whereas even ‘soft’ drugs are addictive and have short-, medium- and long-term consequences for cognitive and psychomotor abilities;

F. whereas this situation is the result of too long a period of political and societal complacency, and even benevolence, towards drug addiction;

G. whereas the EUDA estimates that the illegal drug trade in the EU is worth at least EUR 31-35 billion annually, including around EUR 12.1 billion for cannabis, EUR 11.6 billion for cocaine and EUR 5-7 billion for heroin and synthetic drugs; whereas the estimated cost of the drug trade when it comes to public spending – health, safety, justice – is around EUR 30 billion; whereas, taking into account negative externalities such as corruption, money laundering and loss of productivity in the EU, the overall negative impact of the trade is estimated to be around 1 % of EU GDP;

G. whereas the fight against this scourge cannot, as a matter of principle, be based on removing responsibility from consumers;

H. whereas ports – such as those in Marseille, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg and Gioia Tauro – are well-known entry points for drugs; whereas 70 to 80 % of drugs enter the EU via commercial ports; whereas, according to Europol’s 2025 EU-SOCTA report, there is corruption in almost all major European ports, making it possible for some checks to be circumvented; whereas, 419 tonnes of cocaine were seized in the EU in 2023, and a total of more than 1 800 tonnes between 2019 and 2024;

H. whereas the EU has developed, within the framework of its justice and home affairs policies, legal, operational and technical tools enabling Member States to cooperate with each other, with the support of specialised agencies, both within the European area of freedom, security and justice and at its external borders;

I. whereas drugs from South America transit through the EU’s outermost regions, such as French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique;

I. whereas these tools can be used to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking at EU level and at international level alongside non-EU countries;

J. whereas drug trafficking has become a global threat; whereas drug trafficking finances local and international criminal, paramilitary and terrorist organisations;

J. whereas this fight must also involve the countries of origin of drugs, which cannot be regarded as reliable partners of the EU unless they cooperate genuinely and effectively in this area;

K. whereas several countries, including the United States, Canada and countries in Latin America, have recently designated several transnational drug cartels as terrorist organisations;

1. Condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the cowardly murder of Mehdi Kessaci and offers its full support to his family in this ordeal and, more broadly, in their heroic struggle;

L. whereas Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban and other Islamist terrorist organisations are financed by drug trafficking;

General framework for combating drug trafficking

1. Condemns the murder of Mehdi Kessaci; extends its full support to his family, and in particular his brother Amine Kessaci, a prominent anti-drug activist; expresses its deepest sadness and full solidarity with the families of the innocent victims of drug trafficking; strongly supports all the courageous voices speaking out against the scourge of drug trafficking and drug-related violence in their communities;

2. Considers that we must speak of a real war against drug trafficking and equip ourselves with all the legal, political, financial and material means to wage it;

2. Points out that the fight against drugs is a matter of public policy, security, territorial control, public health and good governance; points out that drug trafficking is generally linked to other forms of organised crime, including trafficking in arms and human beings, but that it is also linked to certain terrorist organisations, including those involved in international Islamist terrorism; points out that drug cartels also use illegal immigration routes; points out that the fight against drug trafficking must therefore be included in broader strategies on zero tolerance, the fight against organised crime, mafias and terrorism;

3. Stresses that police forces across all continents have established the link between migrant smuggling and drug trafficking networks, with drug transport logistics also being used to transport illegal immigrants; notes that more than 90 % of migrants entering the EU illegally are believed to use these criminal networks;

3. Points out that drug trafficking represents a systemic risk when money laundering reaches 2 to 5 % of national GDP, with drug money becoming a fully fledged driver of growth in the formal economy; points out that the infiltration, corruption or intimidation of politicians, civil servants, journalists, law enforcement officials and members of the judiciary poses a major risk to the rule of law; points out that, according to the EUDA, corruption is a critical threat when 10-15 % of the staff in a key location such as a port area are compromised or under influence; points out that several politicians, including former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, have been directly threatened by drug trafficking gangs;

4. Recalls that illegal migrants, particularly minors, are an ideal source of ‘labour’ for traffickers, as they are more discreet, mobile, dependent and therefore easier to exploit than others;

4. Takes the view that, where permitted under national law, membership of an organisation related to drug trafficking, regardless of the level of responsibility, should be regarded as a crime punishable by deprivation of nationality; calls on the Member States to reconsider the age of criminal responsibility or to consider parental responsibility in cases of drug trafficking;

5. Considers that the EU should treat identified drug cartels as terrorist organisations, thereby facilitating the intelligence work of the national authorities in relation to them;

5. Calls on the Member States to align national anti-drug-trafficking legislation with Italian anti-mafia laws, in particular as regards the seizure of assets related to drug trafficking and money laundering and the creation of specific incarceration systems for drug traffickers; also calls on the Member States to use seized assets to finance the fight against drug trafficking, prevention, rehabilitation of offenders and former users, and assistance to the victims of gangs; emphasises that in many Member States new approaches might be needed to prevent prison sentences from effectively becoming stepping stones towards more serious crime;

Police and judicial measures

6. Calls for closer police, judicial and intelligence cooperation within the EU and with international partners, in particular with Latin America, the Balkan countries and the Maghreb countries, to combat drug cartels; calls for penalties to be imposed on countries, firms and individuals that have links with multinational drug companies or allow them to thrive; calls, lastly, for the role of Frontex in the surveillance of the EU’s maritime borders to be strengthened, in particular in the Mediterranean, as part of the fight against drugs, with the aim of dismantling the logistical and financial infrastructure of organised crime;

6. Calls on the Member States concerned to significantly strengthen, with the support of Frontex where necessary, the human, material and technological resources allocated to external border controls in the fight against trafficking in arms, human beings and drugs, particularly in large ports, some of which have become veritable ‘cocaine hubs’;

7. Calls foron theEuropol, targetedwith strengtheningthe assistance of checks,the securityEU andAgency for the fightOperational againstManagement corruptionof Large-Scale IT Systems in Europeanthe ports;Area welcomes,of inFreedom, thisSecurity regard,and theJustice establishment(eu-LISA), ofto thestrengthen Europeanits Portssupport Alliance,for thenational newlaw drugsenforcement strategyagencies andin theorder EUto actiongive planreal onpriority drugs;to the fight against narco-terrorism;

8. Points out that the new drugs strategy calls on the Member States to adopt zero-tolerance policies on driving under the influence of drugs, in accordance with Directive 2006/126/EC on driving licences, and to make full use of the cross-border tools available to enforce those rules;

8. Calls on Eurojust to improve its support for joint investigation teams set up by the competent national authorities;

9. Emphasises that AI can play a role in identifying points of sale or points at which the use and sale of drugs is being promoted, in particular by means of social media or artistic content;

9. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the creation of the new European customs agency does not undermine the current synergies and cooperation between the national customs authorities of the Member States, Europol and Frontex in preventing and combating drug trafficking;

10. Takes the view that consumers have a responsibility and that policy to combat drugs must involve prevention and the provision of accurate information on the health, cognitive and behavioural consequences of drug use, particularly for minors; emphasises that the fight against drugs is not an ideology and must remain pragmatic, with a focus on education, especially parental education, personal responsibility and the involvement of voluntary associations and local and community stakeholders;

10. Instructs the new Anti-Money Laundering Authority to focus immediately on financial flows linked to drug trafficking;

11. Emphasises that the fight against drug trafficking must not be used as a pretext to curb civil liberties, the right to privacy or the use of cash;

11. Instructs the Commission to provide the necessary legal and material resources for this fight and for the agencies concerned by reallocating existing budgets;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

12. Calls for closer cooperation with Interpol in the fight against trafficking in arms, human beings and drugs; recalls, in this regard, the encouraging example of the arrest in February 2025 of Mohamed Amra, who was the subject of an Interpol red notice;

13. Calls for a proportionate relaxation of data protection rules in the fight against drug trafficking;

External dimension

14. Stresses that an effective fight against this scourge must begin at its source and continue throughout its entire process;

15. Calls for the EU to cooperate with the countries of origin of drugs and to denounce and sanction non-EU countries that refuse to cooperate or that turn a blind eye, in one way or another, to trafficking, the financial flows it generates, or the traffickers themselves;

16. Notes with concern that the overseas territories of Member States have become prime targets for South American cartels, with the French West Indies, for example, becoming a gateway for cocaine to ports such as Le Havre;

17. Calls for the careful consideration of the massive presence of powerful cartels in certain candidate countries and in countries covered by the European neighbourhood policy;

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18. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, Frontex, Europol, Eurojust, eu-LISA, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority and Interpol.