France, Nov. 21 -- Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday, Barrot said Europe needed to "wake up" to the scale of the challenge.

Drug trafficking, he warned, was now touching every corner of the bloc, with serious consequences for public health and safety. "These sanctions will hit them where it hurts - namely in their wallets - to eradicate the problem at its root," he said.

The proposal marks France's latest attempt to confront a wave of gang-related drug violence that has unsettled communities from big cities to provincial towns.

The issue was thrust into the national spotlight by the killing of 20-year-old Mehdi Kessaci in Marseille on 13 November - an attack French officials have described as a...