Legal battle looms over ‘green crimes’

Date: 04/04/02

By Laurence Frost

THE European Parliament is set to endorse plans to criminalise serious breaches of EU environmental laws, paving the way for a legal showdown between the main European institutions.

MEPs vote on Tuesday (9 April) on proposals that would for the first time bring aspects of member states' criminal law under 'first-pillar' EU control.

The move would be a setback to Union governments, most of which are determined to resist the loss of sovereignty brought by the introduction of majority voting and European Commission supervision of their judicial affairs.

Member states are backing a rival Danish government proposal for closer intergovernmental 'third-pillar' coordination of penalties for green crimes - which maintains strict national control over enforcement.

Both the Parliament and the Commission are threatening to take the Council of Ministers to the European Court of Justice if ministers meeting later this month approve the Danish plan which, they say, contravenes the EU Treaty.

MEP Ria Oomen-Ruijten, who won cross-party support from the environment committee for her report backing the Commission's proposal, called the intergovernmental approach 'unacceptable'.

'If you want to do something against environmental crime then everybody has to do it,' the Dutch conservative said. 'It can't be that the Germans have tough legislation while others don't have any at all.'

Both proposals seek to harmonise the definition of environmental crimes and compel EU countries to give 'effective and dissuasive' punishments to offenders.

Neither specifies the exact penalties that should be imposed.

The intergovernmental approach would leave member states to apply the new rules themselves, with the Commission and Parliament powerless to enforce or check their implementation.

Under the Commission's 'first-pillar' approach, however, the Parliament and governments would have equal say over the content of the new EU law.

The Commission would vet the national 'implementing legislation' and launch infringement proceedings against countries that failed to prosecute offences.

Oomen-Ruijten attempted to play down the proposal's legal impact, claiming infringement proceedings would only happen if member states failed completely to introduce the required legislation. 'But we know that it will cause problems,' she conceded.

The two commissioners behind the March 2001 proposal, environment and justice chiefs Margot Wallström and António Vitorino, are said by their officials to be braced for legal action if ministers adopt the Danish plan.

'It's also a power question within governments,' said one official, who said the justice ministers discussing the intergovernmental proposal were 'much less Community-minded' than their environment counterparts handling the Commission draft.

A favourable court ruling could inspire similar initiatives in other areas of criminal law, the same source said. 'This will set a very important precedent for food safety law.'

THE European Parliament will vote on 9 April 2002 on whether to endorse plans to criminalise serious breaches of EU environmental laws.