A Definition that Could not Work: the EU Framework Decision on the Fight against Organised Crime

This article argues that the definition of organised crime by the European UnionFramework Decision on the Fight against Organised Crime (henceforth FD) is uncertain and vague, and that this makes the FD a poor instrument with little added value for the approximation of criminal legislation against organised crime.This criticism of the FD is based on both legal and criminological arguments, since the FD appears to be flawed from both perspectives.In order to support the article's main thesis, the first section provides brief background information on organised crime, harmonisation and approximation of criminal law in the EU.The second section then analyses the definition of 'criminal organisation' as provided by the FD and the model offences criminalizing participation in a criminal organisation.Subsequently, the third section summarises the FD's problems relative to its added value in the approximation of criminal legislation against organised crime and suggests some possible improvements.The last section concludes.Francesco Calderoni.A definition that could not work: the EU Framework Decision on the Fight against Organised Crime. 2 1. Organised crime, harmonisation and approximation of national criminal legislations.The concept of organised crime is debated both in criminal law and criminology.This is because the phenomenon is in itself complex and overlaps with economic crime, terrorism and even the legal economy, but also because state action to combat organised crime has frequently been uncertain and mostly symbolic, using the concept as a "picklock for criminal law and justice reforms" in order to increase police powers. 1 After 11 September 2001 the main focus of the international crime and security agenda shifted from organised crime to terrorism, but the approach remained the same.The links between organised crime and terrorism suddenly became apparent and measures against organised crime were turned against terrorism. 2These difficulties long mirrored the lack of international consensus on a legal definition of organised crime.In the last decade this shortcoming was remedied by the 1998 Joint Action making it a criminal offence to participate in a criminal organisation in the Member States of the European Union (henceforth the JA 3 ) and the United Nations 1 Letizia Paoli and Cyrille Fijnaut, "General Introduction," in Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and