Justice - Newsroom
Criminal law to ensure better respect for EU rules
Date: 20/09/2011
Fighting crime is a priority for Europeans who expect that criminals cannot hide behind borders or exploit differences between national legal systems. The EU makes use of criminal law to strengthen the enforcement of EU policies and rules.
Criminal law is still a relatively young field at EU level. It is essential to design a clear European Criminal Policy enabling the Union to define if, when and how to use criminal law to better enforce a policy. The Lisbon Treaty now provides a framework that makes this possible, as it allows the EU to make use of criminal law to strengthen the enforcement of EU policies and rules.
Read more:
- IP/11/1049 - Towards a reasonable use of criminal law to better enforce EU rules and help protecting taxpayers' money
- COM(2011)573 final - Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Towards an EU Criminal Policy: Ensuring the effective implementation of EU policies through criminal law
