European Union tries to enforce Environmental crime laws

Environmental crime is the fourth biggest criminal activity in the world, with annual revenues in the bloc between €4 billion and €15 billion annually. Brussels is trying to enforce EU law to curb environmental crime, but it has run into problems attempting to force other members to abide by the rules.

Since 2018, environmental crime has been rising, according to Eurojust, the EU agency that facilitates judicial cooperation among countries. In 2018, Eurojust saw 25 environmental crime cases referred to the agency after the year prior saw just nine. 18 cases were referred to the agency in 2021, with 20 cases coming to the agency in 2020. Out of the 109 cases of environmental crime reported since 2014, 15 were waste traffickers, 14 were wildlife traffickers, 13 were air pollution and eight were illegal trade in hazardous chemicals.

Criminals are able to exploit different waste trafficking rules because of the divergent rules within the EU s member states. ric Figliolia, France's deputy representative at Eurojust, claimed that traffickers will label plastic waste imports as raw material or recycled material. When in fact it is waste that has never been treated, Italy and other Central European countries have long been considered safe havens for environmental crime, but Jan op gen Oorth, a spokesman for EU law enforcement agency Europol said it is an issue across the bloc. He said Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg is very attractive for criminals because it has lots of airports, big ports, good infrastructure, good highways, and you're well connected to the German, the French and the English markets.

When certain crimes are less harshly punished in a country or another country, a country or another haven for crime emerges, he told POLITICO. He told the outlet that every crime area is competing with others when it comes to allocation of budget, allocation of priorities in law enforcement. We are a little bit victims of our high standards in Europe. In a way that creates an opportunity for criminals, waste needs to be taken care of from the moment we decide to live in a society that is clean, that is not polluted. Environmental crimes cause irreversible and long-term damage to people's health and environment. They are hard to find out and bring before a Court, while sanctions tend to be weak. That is why we need to strengthen our environmental criminal law. A high level of environmental protection is not only an important for present but also future generations. Ex-Aussie PM says Britain is deluded'' and slams Truss as 'demented' LATEST It comes after Germany hit out at an EU plan to include nuclear energy and natural gas in its green labelling system for investments in the energy sector. In a draft seen by POLITICO, the Commission told member states that it is necessary to recognise that the fossil gas and nuclear energy sectors can contribute to the decarbonisation of the Union's economy. Robert Habeck, Germany's Economy and Climate Protection Minister from the Green Party, told German press agency dpa on Saturday that the Commission proposal waters down the good label for sustainability. He said it would not have needed this addition to the taxonomy rules from our point of view. We don't see an approval of the new proposals. He said it was questionable whether this greenwashing would be accepted by the financial markets.