26/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - Police officers from 24 countries of the EU met in Deauville, France, on 24 and 25 February, to set in place an "operational network of correspondence between specialist services" to fight money laundering. More than €1100 billion in dirty money are believed to be in circulation throughout the world. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have estimated that this equates to between 3% and 5% of the planet's gross domestic product. The new network will be tasked with creating a typology of the various cases encountered and with assisting with proposals for the Union. According to Belgium's Carlo Van Heuckelon, the head of the financial unit of Europol, the creation of this network has been made possible by the fact that "the funding programme of the EU supports the accomplishment of projects of this kind". (B.C./transl.fl)