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THE EXPLOITATION OF LABOUR AND THE EUROPEAN VALUES
through legal instruments only (especially through instruments of the penal law)
because the decisions of political authorities are based on double ethics. This is
proved by the fact that the norms set up by the UN and the European Union that
rest on cultural and moral foundations do not prevail or do not prevail fully in
the practical steps supported, tolerated or prohibited by the governments of the
member states. All this can lead to the conclusion that we are active or passive
participants of a worldwide network that follows a misguided course. In this
network, national and international institutions define through legislation the
acts they prohibit on the one hand. On the other hand, however, these above¬
mentioned institutions often fail to punish those who break these rules, because
they follow their short-term interests. Instead, they tolerate and often even support
the activity of those break these norms and cause damage to society. The decision¬
makers of political power centres often focus their efforts on prohibiting the
political-economic status quo through legal instruments on the one hand, while
supporting or at least tolerating it also through legal instruments. In connection
with our present subject matter, it means that they directly or indirectly support
the activity of the economic power centres, which focus only on their economic
interests in the short term. An integral part of this is, however, the exploitation of
the workforce involving harm to human life and health owing to the unacceptable
risks and the exploitation of the natural environment as well.
Akos Farkas highlights several causes of the problems mentioned above
— among them problems in the harmonization of law.” Article 83 of the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)”* mentions specifically some
aspects of exploitation only (the sexual exploitation of women and children is in
connection with our topic among them) as ones that the following statement of
Article 83 refers to: “Judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the Union shall be
based on the principle of mutual recognition of judgments and judicial decisions
and shall include the approximation of the laws and regulations of the Member
States.” As Farkas points out the same piece of legislation (Article 83) makes it
possible to extend the scope of the crimes clearly specified by stipulating that “on
the basis of developments in crime, the Council may adopt a decision identifying
other areas of crime that meet the criteria specified in this paragraph.” In his
opinion
25 Farkas, Akos, The limitations EU criminal law [Az EU büntetőjog korlátai], Ügyészségi
Szemle (Journal of Prosecution) 2 (2018) 98-120. http://ugyeszsegiszemle.hu/hu/201802/
ujsag#74.
?° Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. https://eur¬
lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:9e8d52e1-2c70-11e6-b497-01aa75ed71a1.0006.01/
DOC_3&format=PDF.
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