EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/850

(2004/C 84 E/0944)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0705/04

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(4 March 2004)

Subject: Creation of an observatory to study the phenomenon of organised mafia-type crime and similar forms of criminality in the EU

Increased economic and financial flows and the globalisation of the economy have given rise to the appearance and consolidation of transnational organised crime in Europe, which grows and proliferates through structures and strategies whose territorial boundaries no longer correspond to the confines of an individual state.

The reported presence in the EU of a veritable crime multinational entails the management of vast activities, including the trafficking of human organs and tissues, illegal immigration and the sexual exploitation of women and children, drug trafficking, illegal arms trading, trading waste (including radioactive waste) and trafficking animals and works of art.

Recent high-level police investigations have confirmed the existence of operative links between the mafia in Europe in its various forms, international terrorism and South American paramilitary organisations.

The ‘European crime prevention network’ produces limited operative evidence and excludes the participation of MEPs.

In view of the above, does not the Commission consider it vital to set up, as a matter of urgency, an observatory, with a representative from the European Parliament, to carry out a far-reaching and coherent study of the phenomenon of organised mafia-type crime and similar forms of criminality in European countries by means of an in-depth investigation of the causes and the devastating effects of such crime in social and economic terms, and to propose suitable solutions to reduce existing discrepancies in penalties between the different legal systems of individual Member States?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(6 April 2004)

In today's world, the scope, nature and methods of organised crime change rapidly and constitute a serious threat to the security of citizens and society.

The prevention of organised crime can greatly benefit from the reinforcement of actions, an enhanced exchange of practices, the setting of common priorities, and the co-ordination of national approaches at European level, i.e. through the gathering, analysis and exchange of information and expertise. Furthermore, value can be added to existing national efforts by developing at European level common methods and infrastructures for the gathering, analysis and use of criminal intelligence and the elaboration of common profiling methods.

Recent progress at European level in the field of law enforcement and judicial co-operation include in particular the adoption of the Framework Decision (1) on the European arrest warrant and the Framework Decision (2) on enforcement in the Union of decisions concerning the freezing of assets.

The establishment of Eurojust which has been operational in The Hague since December 2002 is an important part of ensuring proper coordination between the national prosecuting authorities, as regards practical policing and judicial co-operation. On the basis of an initiative by several Member States, agreement was also reached in principle on the establishment of joint investigative teams, which would bring the entry into force of the 2000 Mutual Legal Assistance Convention.

Furthermore, the role of Europol has also been reinforced to extend its remit to all the serious forms of international crime mentioned in the Annex to the Europol Convention. Europol publishes once a year the EU Organized Crime Report, based on contributions from the Member States. The primary aim of the report is to obtain and disseminate information about organized crime in the EU, thereby providing an effective basis for governments and parliaments to formulate coherent policies at national and EU levels. This process also supports law enforcement decision-makers in setting priorities and allocating resources as appropriate.

As far as the detection, investigation and prosecution of criminal activities is concerned, cooperation at Union level provides wider possibilities for effectively addressing organized crime, and increases the viability of national law enforcement actions. This is supported by the gathering, sharing and exchanging of information and intelligence through information networks, operational cooperation, the setting up of common training programmes and other schemes for knowledge sharing. It is further supported through cooperation in the field of scientific police information and forensic science, and in the coordination of efforts undertaken in this context. Operational cooperation can receive strong impetus from supporting the co-operation and coordination of actions of enforcement authorities, including on the basis of public-private partnerships.

Evaluation and monitoring of measures to fight organised financial crime will take on growing importance for the Commission. To this end, the Commission will work towards establishing working methods as well as targeting areas and objectives proposed in close co-operation with Member States and other relevant bodies such as Europol, Eurostat and Member States' statistical agencies, relevant sectors of the academic community, and the private sector, as appropriate.

The Commission intends to create European expert groups on statistics and criminal research and set up an EU network of national correspondents on crime statistics. Two ad-hoc experts' meetings, organized by the Commission under the Forum on the Prevention of Organised Crime, have already taken place with a view to preparing this initiative.

In this context, the Commission is also supporting the implementation of a set of economic risk assessments on sectoral organised crime, with a view to formulating a European methodology on economic risk analysis and to encourage the development of early warning systems, benchmarking exercises and the identification and exchange of good practices in reducing crime, victimisation and fear of crime.

Finally, the potential value added of dedicated observatories will also be assessed in this context.

(1) Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States — Statements made by certain Member States on the adoption of the Framework Decision, OJ L 190, 18.7.2002.

(2) Council Framework Decision 2003/577/JHA of 22 July 2003 on the execution in the European Union of orders freezing property or evidence, OJ L 196, 2.8.2003.