Page 165 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

Tackling Environmental Crime throUgh standardized Methodologies

Africa. There is the need for an increasingly more European style control
system.

The synergy between police forces is equally important because, once
again in the circular economic sector, the package of proposals that will shortly
come to light pushes towards a maximum recovery of materials. Therefore
greater recovery and recycling and fewer landfills. The proposal establishes
ambitious objectives with precise deadlines. These limits, however, have been
waived for some countries, like Rumania and Bulgaria, who are entering the
European Union now. These countries are currently preparing a great capacity
for landfill waste disposal. I would not want a situation in which, on the one
hand, we talk about a circular economy and, on the other, we find solutions to
Italian emergencies by taking waste to these countries. This would be a way
which I would consider, even if legally correct, immoral from an economic per-
spective as against the principle of proximity.

Legality can only be guaranteed through rigorous controls from the per-
spective of environmental protection. If this does not happen, we risk expor-
ting a modus operandi which we experienced in our country in the nineties
(‘terra dei fuochi’ and the illegal landfills in Campania) to other countries where,
perhaps, legislation and controls are more permissive.

The Commission currently has 21 open investigations. One of these was
initiated with the coordination of Dott. Maurizio Santoloci and concerns the
issue of liquid waste and mud spreading in agriculture. Then we set up this new
investigation into the cross-border trafficking of waste, which I believe to be
innovative in the context of inquiries carried out in the field so far.

I would like to conclude by returning to the initial considerations and com-
ments made by Ermete Realacci. If, on the one hand, we want to proceed to
simplifying the authorization processes, on the other hand, there must be a grea-
ter capacity for public control than what we have today. We need to transform
the typical procedures of the previous century, in which companies had to wait
for long periods to arrive at the best possible solutions for authorization, with
stressful confrontation between public institutions and private businesses.

There was an extremely long preliminary phase and authorization was
given on condition that a whole series of requirements were met and, therefore,

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