15/12/2020 (Agence Europe) – Thirty-five MEPs, led by Domènec Ruiz Devesa (S&D, Spain), called on the European Commission to launch an action plan against the trafficking of cultural goods, one of the sources of funding for crime and terrorism. Under the EU’s Internal Security Strategy, presented last July, it was recognised that trafficking of cultural goods has become one of the “most lucrative criminal activities”, and is “on the rise”, the letter states. A further objective of the action plan would therefore also be to defend the reputation of the internal market. According to a recent study, less than 2% of the antiques traded in Germany from the Eastern Mediterranean have a legal origin. Moreover, digital platforms have no control over these traffic flows, whereas there should om fact be “minimum traceability standards”. Link to the letter: http://bit.ly/3a9YCqp (SP)