On Friday 7 July in Tallinn, EU justice ministers discussed measures for combating terrorism and criminal groups by confiscating and freezing the assets of these organisations and through the mutual recognition of the decisions taken by member states.
During this discussion the Estonian Minister for Justice, Urmas Reinsalu, indicated that many member states had called for a change in the legal basis of the Commission’s proposals of December 2016 (see EUROPE 11694), by transforming the proposed regulation into a directive.
The Estonian minister emphasised that it was crucial to push forward this work quickly. The confiscation of assets and the mutual recognition of decisions are, “an important element in our fight against terrorism and organised crime”.
No legislation has yet been put through to change the legal basis but “a directive will require more time for transposition and will be less fluid that regulation”, warned one European source shortly after the minister’s announcement. It should be recalled that the regulation sought to harmonise mutual recognition of practices for decisions to freeze and confiscate assets from organised crime and also proposed a single legal instrument.
This same source explained, however, that they should not waste time deciding on the characteristics of the legislative instrument. According to Europol figures, it is scarcely more than 1% of these criminal groups’ goods that are generally confiscated or frozen.
The European Commissioner in charge of this dossier, Vera Jourova, confirmed that it was a matter of urgency to move forward on this question. She also said that she was confident that a general approach would be adopted by ministers by the end of the Estonian Presidency. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)