EKOLOŠKA POLITIKA EVROPSKE UNIJE I NJEN UTICAJ NA KRIVIČNOPRAVNI OKVIR SRBIJE U KONTEKSTU VLADAVINE PRAVA I INSTITUCIONALNIH PROMENA

Abstract

Environmental protection is one of the key values of the modern legal order, the importance of which transcends national borders and requires coordinated international action. The European Union's environmental policy has developed a complex normative framework that includes criminal protection mechanisms. The Republic of Serbia, as a country in the process of European integration, is obliged to harmonize its legislation with EU law, a requirement particularly evident in the area of criminal environmental protection. The current EU Directive on environmental crime (2024/1203), as well as the Council of Europe Convention on Environmental Protection through Criminal Law, which, although it has not yet entered into force, is predicted to shape this area in our country further. This paper aims to analyze the impact of the environmental policy of Europe on the criminal legal framework of Serbia, with special reference to the issue of the rule of law in conditions of institutional changes. In the first part of the paper, the author analyzes the concept of environmental crime, in the second part, she considers the main novelties brought by the aforementioned two acts, while in the final, third part, the author will deal with the issue of the need to harmonize domestic criminal legislation with these European standards.