Combating cybercrime is at the top of the European Commission's list of priorities, it says in its progress report on implementing the European security agenda that was published on Wednesday 12 April.
This report provides a solid basis for the discussions on the EU's priorities in the fight against organised crime for the next four years, says the European commissioner responsible for security union, Julian King.
The report notes that cyber-attacks are increasing in terms of intensity, volume and quality. The same morning, British daily newspaper The Guardian reported that the British parliament's constitutional affairs committee had concluded that foreign governments, like Russia and China, could be involved in the problems experienced by the website where people were able register to vote in the referendum on the UK belonging to the EU.
"Further steps include exploring possible solutions to remove obstacles to criminal investigations against cybercrime, by identifying specific initiatives on access to evidence and information", the Commission writes. It adds that cooperation to fight cybercrime must maintain its focus on the identification and protection of victims.
The commissioner for taxation, Pierre Moscovici, has hailed the fact that VAT fraud features for the first time in the Commission's priorities on security. "Mafia and terrorist networks fund themselves partly through cross-border VAT fraud in the EU", he has said in comments reported by the press.
Last year, an investigation by Dutch television programme Zembla showed how a vast VAT fraud between European companies seemed to have been used to finance terrorist attacks. In 2010, the programme had revealed, in a shelter near the village where Osama Bin Laden had been found, US troops had discovered a letter revealing a vast network of Italian fraud.
"These organisations exploit loopholes and the absence of common rules, depriving EU countries of up to €60 billion a year in revenues. Worse, those huge sums can be used to fund further organised cross-border crime such as human trafficking, drug smuggling and terrorist activities, as some ongoing investigations have already shown", Moscovici added.
According to the Commission report, the proposal for a definitive VAT system impermeable to fraud is expected in September.
The Commission's other priorities include the production, trafficking and distribution of drugs, the smuggling of migrants, organised crime in private services, the trafficking of humans, weapons trafficking and environmental crime. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)