Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-07-Speech-5-031"
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"en.20000707.3.5-031"2
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") Mr President, the harmonisation of Member States’ criminal law on combating environmental crime forms a very serious part of the policy to create an area of freedom, security and justice and an essential supplement to any effective environmental policy. I would therefore like to congratulate both the Danish Government on the initiative it has undertaken and the honourable members, Mr Di Lello Finuoli and Mrs Schörling, who have used their texts to broaden and specify the scope of the initiative. Despite the Danish initiative being a positive step in the right direction, it does in fact have its weak points in comparison, for example, with the 1998 Council of Europe Convention. This is because it focuses solely on criminal law and disregards questions of prevention, health, protection of cultural heritage and so forth.
However, despite its weak points and contradictions, the initiative is a positive one because it promotes the creation of a legislative framework which will allow for more coordinated joint action through a stronger Europol, mainly in tackling cross-border environmental crime. It lays down minimum sanctions, particularly for cases in which the environment is sacrificed at the altar of profit. I fully endorse this approach because, as we all know, the punishments laid down for environmental crime are grossly out of proportion with the effect which these crimes have on society as a whole.
However, we feel that the Danish initiative has not properly examined the Member States’ legislation and will probably be difficult to implement because of the major discrepancies between them. But I do agree with the reference to the liability of legal persons given that, by definition and by nature, the majority of environmental crimes are committed by corporations and industries. I also feel that the reference to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is essential as I think that every proposal ought to take account of the prospect of enlargement.
Furthermore, I must stress the need for educating and training the personnel who will be responsible for investigating and prosecuting environmental crimes, the need to highlight preventative measures and the need for all the Member States to ratify the 1998 Convention of the Council of Europe. To date, not one Member State has ratified it. I should also like to stress that the Member States will have to pledge to work together on this extremely important issue."@en1
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"Karamanou (PSE )."1
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