Page 187 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

Tackling Environmental Crime throUgh standardized Methodologies

emerging crimes but it still does not rank as a priority for the EU; and this is
something I believe we should look into and use the experience we have to
make sure it gets the necessary attention. As a matter of fact, I am aware that
Italy, for quite some time now, has been pushing on the international, as well as
on EU level, to make this crime a real EU priority. There is still a lot of work
to be done to recognise that we have to really take up responsibility for the
future.

So, what can Europol do in this context? Even if it is not considered a
priority, we are certainly not ignoring this crime area and are allocating extra
resources into strategic and operational activities to analyse environmental
crime.

For instance, one of the things we do is provide member states with the
permanent secretariat of the Environmental Crime Network, the
EnviCrimeNet, which Italy is also a member of, through which we try to raise
the attention in this area in the different member states. We also have a Europol
platform for experts, in which experts can liaise with each other and share best
practices specifically related to this form of crime. Together with
EnviCrimeNet, last year we issued a joint intelligence report for a project on
environmental crime and the relation with organised groups, carrying recom-
mendations for better tackling this phenomenon.

Together with other partners like Interpol, in the EU remit, we worked on
Operation COBRA III, the biggest ever coordinated international law enforce-
ment operation targeting the illegal trade in endangered species, as well as on
the “Environmental Crime Threat Assessment” issued in 2013.

Although we are involved in many activities, waste trafficking and envi-
ronmental crime altogether is still not on the ENPAC (please check!) priorities
list but on the watch list for potential future priorities within the EU policy
cycle and I personally am still asking the question how this kind of crime could
be rated the same way as drugs crime.

The most important thing I believe Europol can do is provide member states
like Italy with operational support: the actual investigation has to be done within
the member states and our task is to make sure that it’s properly coordinated by
supplying member states with the right information. And through our strategic,

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