The adoption of a contentious new Europe-wide penal code for dealing with environmental criminals was on Friday described as a “moral duty” by Franco Frattini, the European Union justice commissioner.
The plan to create common legal standards for serious “green crimes” is viewed by some as a dangerous attempt by the European Commission to sideline national parliaments in the making of criminal law.
But Mr Frattini said concerns about environmental harm transcended the sensitivities of member states because they affected “the fundamental rights of citizens”. He said criminals could exploit the variations between member states on how they treated environmental crimes, such as the illegal dumping or shipping of waste, or the picking of protected wild flowers.
Under draft legislation presented on Friday, member states would have to criminalise a series of environmental offences and impose minimum sentences for the most serious crimes, including those causing death.
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