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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Transnational Organized Crime and European Union: Aspects and Problems

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The fight against criminal organizations and their ability to carry out illegal activities beyond the national borders has represented a “bridge head” in the European path towards the harmonization of criminal laws in the member states. After considering the role played by the harmonization of criminal law in the European Union treaties, the study underlines how the difficulty in defining the concept of transnational organized crime could result in an excessive European intervention. In order to avoid such a risk, it is useful to refer to other relevant international sources, like the 2000 Palermo UN Convention, and also to recent European documents on the matter (in particular, a Resolution by the European Parliament of the 25th October 2011). The final part of the paper is dedicated to the necessity to reconsider the traditional guarantees in the new European dimension, especially in the light of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and their counterweight activity to prevent an unbalanced European intervention against organized crime.