Transnational Organised Crime and European Union: Aspects and Problem

After explaining what role the harmonization of criminal law plays in the current European Union treaties, the article will discuss how the difficulty of defining the concept of transnational organized crime may lead to European interventions that go beyond the limits of “reasonableness”. In order to avoid such a risk, it is useful to refer to other relevant international sources, such as the 2000 Palermo UN Convention. Nevertheless, the more recent European decisions on the matter (in particular, a resolution by the European Parliament of October 25, 2011) seem to have paid a lot of attention to the main problems involved. However, the effectiveness of normative instruments in tackling organized crime highlights a more general problem. The European Union’s action concerning criminal law shows the need to rethink the traditional guarantees and fundamental principles developed within the political context of nation states. This difficult topic will be addressed – with reference to the European Court of Human Rights and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights - as counterweights meant to avoid unbalanced European action against organized crime.