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Dutch drug domination
IN an unexpected turn the Netherlands and Belgium have overtaken Spain as the primary gateway for cocaine entering Europe, with cartels using Mexican cartel techniques to control the market.
The news announced in an United Nations report on drugs (UNODC) on Friday, April 7 also revealed that these cartels have become so powerful that they have even displaced Spain as the main hub for drug trafficking in Europe.
Recent reports suggest that several cartels are taking over the drug markets in the Netherlands and Belgium and are now producing more and more methamphetamine locally. The availability of cocaine in Europe has increased dramatically over the past decade, with Holland and Belgium now being the key players in the trade.
The rise in prominence of these ports has been linked to their location in the
North Sea, which have seen a surge in trafficking activity. According to the UNODC report, Albanian gangs controlling the drug market in the southeast of the UK are also supplied by Dutch ports.
The days of Spain being the primary entry point for cocaine into Europe are now a thing of the past, as the Netherlands and Belgium have taken over the illicit industry.
STARTING on Monday, April 10, the city of Valencia began experimenting with the fourday working week. It coincides with three consecutive bank holiday Mondays after moving a holiday from January to this current month.
In a pilot project promoted by the city council, its objective is to test the impact of the application in the city of a fourday working week. It will analyse the subsequent consequences on productivity, leisure, mobility, the economy, and the health of the people involved in working 32 hours a week.
The scheme spans the four weeks of April 10, which includes Easter Monday, and April 17, which has the San Vicente Ferrer holiday. It also includes April 24, which becomes a holiday replacing January 22’s San Vicente Mártin celebration, and May 1, which is Labour Day in Spain.
Once the four weeks have ended, the city council’s Las Naves innovation centre will evaluate the results in order to have the conclusions of this test prepared by July 20.
Similar experiments have recently been conducted in other countries, including Lithuania, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Portugal and Japan.
