Activites

• 1998/12/07 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1998/11/17 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0653/1998 summary

    In adopting the report by Mrs Charlotte CEDERSCHIÖLD (EPP, S) on combating organised crime Parliament regretted that the draft Council resolution did not contain sufficiently concrete measures and called on the Council to take steps to remedy that from the list it had put forward and to set deadlines for each action to be implemented. It called firstly for objective and sustained participation by the media in raising awareness of the dangers of organised crime. It also hoped that the applicant countries and (at least) neighbouring third countries would participate in this preventive strategy against organised crime. It also stressed the importance of civil society in preventing crime. The practical measures proposed by Parliament included: - the adoption of specific provisions in the fields of labour, health, education, training and culture; - the development of innovative and people-friendly town planning, which includes the elimination of slums and ghettos, the development of architecture inimical to crime, the replacement of the present concentration of large numbers of refugees in unorganised urban settlements by organised camps with proper sanitary facilities, security and provisions etc; - the strengthening of the social fabric and encouragement for the creation of various support groups; - strengthening a sense of community and self-esteem or social values; - the establishment at local level of crime prevention boards; - the integration of marginalised groups; - encouragement for community policing; - measures to combat factors which lead to the development of begging, particularly by children; - support for measures and projects to educate citizens to be law-abiding; - elimination of networks involved in trafficking in women and illegal prostitution; - encouragement for citizens to make statements to the police and the judicial authorities (protection of witnesses); - care for families at risk from delinquency; - strengthening of efforts to resocialise offenders and repeat offenders; - the establishment of programmes to help and treat victims. Lastly, Parliament called on the Council and the Member States to give priority to crime prevention projects within the context of the reform of the Structural Funds and other regional assistance programmes. �

• 1998/11/16 Debate in Parliament
• 1998/10/26 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0376/1998
• 1998/09/14 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1998/06/29 Non-legislative basic document published
  • 09986/1998 summary

    OBJECTIVE: to propose a draft Council resolution on prevention of organised crime. SUBSTANCE: The draft resolution aims to complement and reinforce the action plan to combat organised crime adopted in 1997 (COS0548). Its objective is to establish an overall strategy for combating crime by proposing guidelines for prevention of organised crime applicable to all Member States and measures arising from these guidelines to be implemented by the Commission and the Member States. (1) The guidelines propose: - developing national programmes to combat organised crime, in line with changing circumstances; - increasing knowledge and experience in this area through research programmes, closer cooperation between Member States and the Commission, common definitions, standards and methods of prevention, exchanges of information with applicant countries and international organisations working in this area, compiling a code of good practice on prevention, etc.; - increasing cooperation with the Member States' decentralised authorities in implementing prevention plans (relevant social groups, the commercial sector and local administrative bodies); the Member States are also recommended to look into the development of certain preventive techniques (video surveillance of public places etc.) and monitor procedures for the award of public contracts; action should also be taken with regard to drugs, petty crime and crime prevention within political parties; - increased information to the widest possible public on the dangers of organised crime (through media projects). (2) With regard to measures, the draft resolution draws the attention of all the authorities concerned (including local authorities and regions) to coordinated implementation of prevention activities. The Commission is invited to draft a report by the end of 2000 on existing Community instruments for crime prevention and to make proposals on the most effective prevention measures. This report should also indicate how the measures could be adopted at Community level in the light of the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Member States are called upon to set up bodies at local level to discuss and study relevant proposals and exchange information on their respective preventive programmes. Contact points should be set up to facilitate exchanges of information. The Member States are called upon to report to the Council by the end of 2000 on the measures taken. The Council could then decide on further measures on the prevention of organised crime. �

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: 09986/1998
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0376/1998
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0653/1998

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)