The rule of law in European democracies risks being undermined unless EU leaders significantly step up their response to the surge in drug-related crime, Europol chief Catherine De Bolle told POLITICO.

She continues that Europe has replaced the United States as the main target market for international drug traffickers and that drug arrivals are expected to increase over the next two years amid a production glut.

The result is an increase in violence and creeping corruption in many drug-trafficking hotspots, including the port of Antwerp in Belgium, as criminal gangs increasingly seek to infiltrate logistics companies, local government and even the judicial system, warned De Bolle.

“We see that the European Union has become more important [για τους εγκληματίες] compared to the United States. European countries are dominating right now,” said the head of Europol, as reported by Politico. “We see that for the next two years we will have an increase in drugs to the European Union because there is more production.”

A direct consequence of South American drug export cartels linking arms with mafia groups in Europe is an increase in violent crime. “What really worries us is the increase in violence. Not just regular violence: contract killings, torture, explosions, really brutal and cruel violence with many dead,” De Bolle underlined.

According to her, leaders must make the fight against organized crime an even greater priority if they want to avoid losing public confidence in the system while warning that “we are in a very difficult situation, we are behind”