France passes sweeping new drug law as cocaine surge drives crime wave

By Elizabeth Pineau and Gabriel Stargardter

PARIS (Reuters) - French lawmakers on Tuesday approved a sweeping counter-narcotics law to equip the state with tougher tools to fight a sharp rise in drug crime following a record-breaking surge of South American cocaine into Europe.

The new law will create a national prosecutor's office for organised crime, isolate dangerous kingpins in prisons to prevent them from running their empires from behind bars, and allow for the shutdown of businesses that launder drug money.

The use of cooperating witnesses - criminals offering information on their network in return for lighter sentences or other benefits - will be expanded, while assets will be confiscated unless their owners can attest to their provenance.

The bill, which was born out of a 2024 Senate report that warned France faced a "tipping point" from rising drug violence, was not without controversy. A measure to provide police with an automatic backdoor into encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal was removed by lawmakers during debate.

Centrist lawmaker Sylvain Maillard told Reuters tougher laws were needed to tackle a problem that is affecting nations across the continent.

"Countries in Europe, like Holland and Belgium, are under attack," Maillard said. "All countries with major ports are particularly affected, and this is the case in France. We must combat this scourge, which has grown enormously in recent years, by updating the legislation."

The new law comes amid growing awareness of France's struggle with organised crime. A spate of attacks on prisons across France, which the government says are in response to its push to make jails less hospitable to drug barons, has underlined the threat to the state posed by the narcotics trade.

At least 25 people suspected of involvement in the prison attacks were arrested on Monday on terrorism charges.

Years of record cocaine imports to Europe have transformed local drug markets, generating a wave of violence. Despite historic cocaine seizures in France, gangs are reaping windfalls as they expand from traditional power bases in cities such as Marseille into smaller towns unused to drug violence.

The rise in gang crime has also increased support for the far-right National Rally party and helped drag French politics further to the right.

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Hugh Lawson)