Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-07-Speech-5-035"
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"en.20000707.3.5-035"2
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"Mr President, on behalf of the Italian radical members of the Technical Group of Independent Members, I would like to say that the Di Lello Finuoli report certainly contributes to improving Denmark’s initiative, and we therefore congratulate the rapporteur. However, in addition to repeating the positive things that have already been said, it is important to stress some of the limitations of Denmark’s initiative, precisely to help us to take more effective action in the future.
Mrs Karamanou has already made an important point: in reality, the Council is not telling us what the current state of the Member States’ laws is. Now, my reaction may well be over-cautious, but I am very suspicious of those who say: let us raise fines, let us increase the sanctions, without, however, telling us what these fines and sanctions are.
I think it would have been appropriate for Denmark and the Council to have also given us a framework of sanctions, so that we could have seen what really are the most serious gaps that need to be filled and the most serious limitations of the European situation. The part on criminal sanctions is, of course, important, and the European legal framework must surely be made consistent. Nevertheless, this is not the only question concerning respect for the environment and environmental disasters: we need to take a more comprehensive view of the matter.
We know, for example, that the levels of pollutant emissions are decreasing in the European Union, and they are decreasing because of the structure underpinning the way the economy operates. Clearly, we also need to intervene with the criminal framework where real crimes are committed, but it is important for the criminal framework to be consistent with the rest of the legislation, administrative sanctions and provisions regulating the economy in order to make the overall framework consistent. Indeed, administrative sanctions, which affect the effective costs of businesses, are often sanctions which have an even stronger preventive effect than criminal sanctions: the person in charge of a business or a company is unlikely to consider the risk of being arrested or of facing criminal sanctions when a tragedy occurs, while on the other hand, it is preferable if he or she is obliged, on a daily basis, to consider the higher expense that polluting processes entail.
Having said that, if, as many of the Members have said, the Council of Europe Convention is more comprehensive and more consistent, perhaps in these cases we should also ask ourselves how the European Union might be able to consider the Council of Europe texts directly in order to make legislation more homogeneous, both within and outside the Union.
I would like to make one final remark about the sensitive matter of the relationship between the State and pollution. We speak of individuals and companies, whereas the state-owned companies or the State itself are often partly responsible for major environmental disasters. This is something which should be taken into account, and I think that the initiative of Denmark and the Council does not do this directly enough.
I will end by extending my congratulations once more to the rapporteur, Mr Di Lello Finuoli."@en1
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