France pushes EU sanctions against drug-linked organised crime

By Dominique Vidalon and John Irish

BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) -France's foreign minister on Thursday proposed the creation of a European Union sanctions regime to tackle cross-border organised drug crime that he said was sweeping across the bloc.

"These sanctions will hit them where it hurts, namely in their wallets, to eradicate the problem at its root," the minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said of drug traffickers.

Gang-related drug crime is on the rise in France, and during a visit to Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, Barrot in November launched a multi-pronged plan to fight an explosion of drug trafficking in Latin America, the Caribbean and increasingly Europe.

The murder on November 13 in Marseille of Mehdi Kessaci, the 20-year-old brother of anti-drug crime campaigner Amine Kessaci, has brought the issue further into focus.

French officials have described the killing as a "crime of intimidation".

Speaking on arrival at a European foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Barrot alluded to the Kessaci case, saying it was time for Europe to wake up.

"Drug trafficking is sweeping across Europe and France, with very serious consequences, threats to public health and the safety of French citizens," he said.

Barrot said he was proposing a new sanctions regime that would target criminals living abroad and their supporters, whether they are responsible for drug trafficking, human trafficking, migrant smuggling or arms trafficking.

Barrot's initiative follows numerous U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean ordered by President Donald Trump as part of what some have called a war against the drug cartels. Barrot has criticised those strikes as a breach of international law.

Barrot's sanctions plan will now need to be discussed among the bloc's 27 member states, with diplomats saying they hoped the first sanctions -- asset freezes and travel bans -- would be imposed by year-end.

Latin American cocaine shipments to Europe have led to more violence by organised crime groups across the continent, leaving dealers flush with cash and willing to fight it out to protect their lucrative patches, officials and analysts have said.

Former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said earlier this year that France was facing a "white tsunami" of cocaine after authorities announced record seizures of 47 tonnes in 2024, more than double the 2023 total.

The number of murders in France has risen nearly 20% since 2017, with 976 murders in 2025, according to interior ministry figures. The violence has spread from urban centres into small towns with little experience of grisly drug crime.

(Writing by Dominique Vidalon and John Irish, Editing by William Maclean)