The European Commission will present its Action Plan to strengthen the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (see EUROPE 12482/8) at an informal video conference of the Ecofin Council of the EU on Tuesday 19 May. An opportunity for EU Finance Ministers to share their first thoughts on this plan.
In a working document dated 12 May, of which EUROPE received a copy, the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council submitted a number of questions for discussion, in particular on one of the Commission's flagship proposals, namely the establishment of a European supervisor, either by creating a new EU agency or by entrusting this task to the European Banking Authority (EBA).
“Provided that a single rulebook and an EU supervisory structure will be developed, are Member States open to explore the option of a new and dedicated EU authority for AML and which supervisory tasks should be conferred to this authority?”, it asks.
In their conclusions adopted on 5 December 2019, Member States showed that they were open to discussing the granting of certain supervisory powers to an EU body (see EUROPE 12384/4), but without specifying whether it should be a new body or the EBA.
Ministers have also been invited to share their views on which sectors should be covered by a regulation, rather than a directive.
Finally, the Presidency is asking the ministers about the changes needed to enable entities, supervisory authorities, national financial intelligence units and law enforcement agencies to make better use of data analysis and sharing.
Revised methodology for the 'black' list
The meeting will also be an opportunity for ministers to make their first comments on the revised methodology for establishing the European 'black' list of non-Member State at high risk of money laundering, the document states.
The Commission had to revise its copy after the rejection by the EU Council, on 7 March 2019, of the list drawn up on the basis of a new methodology on the grounds that it was not sufficiently transparent and did not encourage the countries concerned to take decisive action while respecting their right to be heard (see EUROPE 12209/12).
The final version broadly follows the outline of the methodology that was presented to ministers in October 2019 (see EUROPE 12340/19) and did not raise any significant objections. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)