On Thursday 1 March, MEPs asked the member states to set up a "monitoring and clearance system" for places of worship and teaching, institutions, centres, charitable organisations or cultural associations, as soon as there is reasonable suspicion that they have links with terrorist groups.
In a report by Javier Nart (ALDE, Spain) on cutting Jihadists' sources of income and targeting the financing of terrorism, which was adopted by 533 votes in favour, 24 against and 43 abstentions at the European Parliament, the MEPs wants these bodies to communicate in detail from whom they receive funding, whether this be from the EU or a third country, and what they do with it. MEPs also believe that the traditional means of transferring money, such as Hawala or Fei Ch’ien, should be better monitored and that a statement should be obligatory for all significant transactions made.
To MEPs add that to cut the terrorists' sources of income, the EU countries should improve the proactive exchange of information and coordination between the financial institutions, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and judicial bodies through a European anti-terrorist intelligence platform which could be managed by Europol and include a database of suspicious transactions.
The MEPs also say that the EU should monitor suspicious transactions, pre-paid cards and virtual currencies, and require banks to monitor pre-paid debit cards to ensure they can only be recharged by bank transfer and from personally identifiable accounts.
To fight the financing of terrorism, its sources of income need to be tackled, especially the illegal trade of goods, firearms, oil and drugs, cultural objects, slavery and child exploitation, the Parliament also states.
In addition, the MEPs say that member states should take account, in their foreign policy, of the participation of a state in the financing of terrorism in their relations with that state. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)