Meeting by videoconference on Tuesday 19 May, EU Finance Ministers gave the European Commission their positive impressions of its revised methodology for establishing the European ‘black’ list of high-risk non-Member States for money laundering (see EUROPE 12482/8).
Forced to revise its copy after last year’s rejection by the EU Council of the list drawn up on the basis of a new methodology (see EUROPE 12209/12), the Commission has taken into account the requests of the two co-legislators, Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis assured in a press conference.
The revised methodology responds both to the EU Council’s request for closer alignment with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list and to the European Parliament’s request for an autonomous EU assessment, he said.
According to Mr Dombrovskis, the updated list based on this methodology should therefore be approved by the Member States this time. “In any case, today’s discussion didn’t indicate any immediate objection to that”, he said.
According to an EU source, Ministers were indeed satisfied with the new methodology, in particular the 12-month deadline for courts to apply the specific remedies agreed with the Commission before listing them.
During the in camera discussion, they reportedly emphasised the need to give non-Member States the opportunity to correct their deficiencies, along the lines of what already exists for non-cooperative jurisdictions in the area of taxation.
First discussion on the action plan
Ministers also had a “fruitful discussion” on the Commission’s Action Plan to strengthen the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (see EUROPE 12486/18), according to Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Marić.
First and foremost, the debate allowed Member States to present their initial positions on the Commission’s initiatives, but without going into detail, according to a European source. The discussion did not reveal a preference for establishing a European supervisor, either by creating a new EU agency or by entrusting this task to the European Banking Authority (EBA).
As previous discussions in the EU Council have already confirmed (see EUROPE 12346/3), there is a consensus to have EU-wide supervision, but “nuances” in the positions of the Member States remain, according to the same source.
Several countries, such as France, Germany, Spain and Italy, have reportedly argued for an effective and rapid solution, referring to the use of the EBA, although they did not expressly name it during the meeting. On the other hand, Luxembourg has been clearly in favour of the creation of a new authority solely specialised in the fight against money laundering.
Other Member States, such as Estonia and the Czech Republic, insist in particular on maintaining competence and room for manoeuvre for national supervisors, who are more familiar with the field and the actors.
The discussion also focused on the sectors that should be covered by a regulation, rather than a directive. Most Member States have indicated that applying a harmonised set of rules for the financial sector was easier at this stage than for the non-financial sector, for which a regulation may not be forthcoming.
Germany also reportedly assured during the meeting that the fight against money laundering would be a priority of its future EU Council Presidency. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)