Brussels, 21/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - Discussed at the meeting of EU interior ministers in Gödöllö on Thursday 20 January 2011, the European Commission suggestions published at the end of November 2010 on freezing criminal gangs' assets was given broad support by the Member States, with a close source commenting that they were grateful that the Commission has made proposals so quickly.
On 21 November 2011, the Commission set out a series of measures as part of the 'European Security Strategy' and promised new legislation in 2011 on the funding of criminal groups. It explained that in order to deal with the financial incentives used to promote criminal gangs, the Member States must pull out the stops to seize, freeze and confiscate criminally-obtained assets and sure they are not used by criminals. These ideas were discussed in Gödöllö, ministers supporting the idea of a draft EU directive in this connection. The EU27 recommended a flexible EU legal framework to respect the various national systems and practices, some of which come under criminal law and some under civil law.
In Italy, for example, civil law procedures are used and there is a special government agency that confiscates frozen assets. A source pointed out that Italy is highly active in this domain and has recuperated nearly €18 billion. Ireland also has an asset-freezing system. In Germany, the seizure of goods and assets is not constitutional and it would be difficult to introduce an Italian-type system, explains Berlin. The EU27 did, however, point out in Gödöllö that systems are urgently needed to stem the funding of criminal gangs and pledged to exchange best practice over the next few months at special conferences.
Discussing reports from Europol, the EU27 expressed concern at the predominance of organised crime in various areas like real estate, where criminal groups have been very active since the start of the economic crisis. They also expressed concern at the way criminals manage to launder their money, infiltrating the legal profession, for example. In Gödöllö, Commissioner Cecilia Malmström told the ministers that the Commission would be examining the new forms of financing for criminal groups but did not give any idea of when. Other issues discussed at the meeting included the way criminal gangs take advantage of the EU's open borders and how to tackle cybercrime. The ministers want the work on cybercrime to continue and for police training to be improved, along with existing EU networks like ENISA in Crete. (S.P. trans fl)