In Liège, drug addiction causes many problems. Although several support systems exist, the situation does not seem to be improving. How to deal with this problem? To respond, the city’s mayor, Willy Demeyer, was accompanied by Gilles Foret, head of the MR list, Caroline Saal, head of the Vert Ardent-Ecolo list, as well as Sophie Lecron, head of the PTB list.
As in many cities in Belgium, drug addiction is very present in Liège. This obviously represents a problem, both in terms of security and reputation. And this, despite the presence of several consumption rooms in the city.
Around the table, the various candidates spoke on the subject, particularly with regard to the measures to be put in place to try to stop this scourge.
One problem, many angles of attack
For the city’s mayor, this is a problem widespread throughout Belgium and Europe, with the mafias as the common denominator.
“It is a commitment that must be shared, because the situation is serious. It is not only serious in Liège, it is serious in all European metropolises. We saw it in Belgium, in Antwerp and Brussels. We also see it in France. We have to face an offensive from the mafias, who are very organized. The Liège police, who are taking action, have intervened on several occasions“, he explains.
Despite its many efforts, the work is far from finished, adds Willy Demeyer. “She does her job. She has dismantled two networks in the last two days, but we must go beyond that. We must mobilize the federal judicial police to attack the heads of the mafia networks. At the same time, social treatment for rehousing and managing individuals is necessary. (…) It is also necessary to set up a network of centers around Liège, as we can see in Spain or the Netherlands. (…)”.
For Caroline Saal, head of the list for Vert Ardent-Ecolo, there is a problem in the “use” of existing tools. She criticizes in particular that these are not used by experts in the field.
“What I would like to say to the PS-MR majority is that in fact, what the people of Liège would especially have wanted is for the tools that exist to work. (…) What we’re saying is put them in the hands of experts. Politicians need to stop bickering about this and really give responsibility to experts to make what is already in place work. (…) It is therefore necessary to have a plan to fight drug trafficking and to tackle financial crime, because drugs are the goose that lays the golden eggs of criminals.”
For Sophie Lecron, head of the PTB list, the solution would be to directly attack the source of this drug trafficking, that is to say the ports. “I think we need to attack at the source. The problem is that drugs arrive in our communities, in our cities. (…) This therefore means going against what has been done so far. (…) We need personnel and resources to fight against major drug networks. To do this, controls must be strengthened. In Antwerp, we know that only one container in 40 is checked. There are 39 which are not, and some arrive in Liège. Once the drugs are here, we also need to invest in the local police (…)”.
For his part, Gilles Foret opts for a union between several actors. “There is a union that must be created between the different systems: the police, justice, health care, but also social actors on the ground. It’s important to have coordination and see where we want to go together. And then, there is also this repression which must actually resolve the problem of public space, because it is an urgent question to resolve. We know that there is also a legal framework that must evolve, because today we see its limits (…)”.
The debate in full:
Liège fights against drug trafficking
