Brussels points to Spain as 'main gateway' for drugs into Europe

Spain

Brussels points to Spain as 'main gateway' for drugs into Europe

The country leads the EU bloc in cannabis and cocaine seizures

Añádenos en Google Commissioner for home affairs and migration Magnus Brunner and Franz Pietsch, head of the European drugs agency. (EFE)

Olatz Hernández

11/06/2026 a las 12:12h.

Spain is one of the main gateways for drugs entering Europe, according to the annual report on drugs in the EU.

Produced by the European ... Commission in collaboration with the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), the report warned that the country is a leader in cocaine and cannabis consumption.

The European commissioner for home affairs and migration, Magnus Brunner, warned that "Spain has a special situation because it is a gateway to the European Union, obviously for drugs from Latin America".

Speaking at the report's presentation in Brussels this week, he said that the country is doing "everything possible to improve this situation".

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The EU executive also praised the country’s cooperation, noting that according to the report it is the member state that seizes the most cannabis resin and where the largest number of cannabis plants have been confiscated - 206 tonnes, 75 per cent of the entire EU total in 2024.

Spain is also the leader in cocaine seizures, with 124 tonnes seized, double the amount seized in France (52), which ranks second. In total, Spanish authorities intercepted 37 per cent of the cocaine seized in the EU as a whole in 2024.

The report also draws attention to local processing activity within the country, where seven cocaine laboratories and seven laboratories for the production of MDMA were dismantled.