On 2 June, the European Commission published a report on the implementation of its 2014 directive on freezing criminal groups’ assets, a tool that Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson has also said she wants to revise during her mandate.
In this report, the Commission takes stock of the measures implemented by Member States, the different definitions, and the types of actions. The institution notes that “Asset Recovery Offices have been established in all Member States, helping to quickly trace illicit assets”.
However, according to Europol estimates, only 1% of criminal proceeds are confiscated in the EU, and only 2% are frozen, which “allows organised crime groups to invest [in] expanding their criminal activities and infiltrating the legal economy”.
Europol estimates that 5,000 criminal groups are currently under investigation in the EU. The proceeds of organised crime within the EU are currently estimated at around €110 billion per year, and between 0.7% and 1.28% of the annual EU GDP is involved in suspicious financial activities.
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/30192na (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)