The Office of the High Inspector of Justice participated in the closing conference of the COPEIJ project “Cooperation for the protection of the environment through national justice inspectorate services”, which brought together representatives of the French General Inspectorate of Justice, the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Justice of Italy, the Superior Council of the Judiciary of Portugal, the Judicial Inspectorate of Romania and the Office of the High Inspector of Justice of Albania, members of the European Network of Justice Inspection Services (RESIJ).
Launched two years ago, with funding from the European Commission, the COPEIJ project aims at supporting and promoting the effectiveness of environmental protection by criminal justice in the EU, by involving national inspection services, in the context of the new European Union directive of April 11 2024 for the protection of the environment through criminal law, which obliges the member countries to adopt within two years, national rules in accordance with the provisions of this directive.
During the closing seminar, which was held at the premises of Eurojust in The Hague, the participants discussed the challenges of the fight against environmental crime, particularly in the field of fight against organized crime in Europe, recent developments in this field, and assessed the good practices and innovations identified by the COPEIJ team to improve its effectiveness.
Officials and experts from the European Commission, Eurojust, Europol, magistrates, heads of law enforcement bodies dealing with environmental crime, lawyers and lecturers from EU countries discussed during these two days the fight against environmental crime in Europe, national phenomena and priorities, challenges in the fight against environmental crime: judicial organization for efficient justice. Harmonization of judicial standards and practices, mechanisms to improve the fight against environmental crime.
The Office of the High Inspector of Justice was represented by advisors Ms. Isida Koka and Ms. Mimosa Koçiu. Ms. Koçiu moderated the third roundtable on the topic “The fight against cross-border organized crime”.
Based on a common methodology, representatives of justice inspection services, part of the COPEIJ project have prepared national reports and then a joint report, identifying the main difficulties and presenting good practices related to environmental crime and common recommendations, a document that will be submitted to the European Commission.
