On Wednesday 14 April, the European Commission presented two five-year strategies, respectively on the fight against organised crime and the fight against trafficking in human beings, which will result in a series of legislative initiatives on the freezing of assets of criminal groups, with a draft revision, or on the criminalisation of the use of the services of exploited persons.
This dual strategy 2021-2025 was presented by Vice-President Margarítis Schinás and Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.
It was presented a few days after a new Europol report which indicated that 80% of criminal groups use legal economic channels to conduct their activities. Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuiness will therefore also put new ideas on the table to combat money laundering, said Commissioner Johansson, who detailed the increasingly sophisticated ways in which criminal groups operate.
They “are increasingly acting as multinationals, have a wide range of services in the Member States, have specialised lawyers at their service, are getting into finance” and are “increasingly violent with assassinations and kidnappings”.
There is also a parallel black market in financial services and these groups often operate in several Member States at the same time (at least three on average).
In 2019, criminal revenues (related to drug trafficking, organised property crime, fraud, smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings) amounted to €139 billion, which corresponds to 1% of the EU’s gross domestic product, the Commission says. “But only 1% of this revenue is seized”, said Ms Johansson.
Between 2017 and 2018, more than 14,000 victims in the European Union had been recorded, mostly young girls. Globally, the profits made by these traffickers are estimated at €29.4 billion in a single year, says the Commission.
The dual strategy therefore aims to strengthen police and judicial cooperation on organised crime, as 65% of criminal groups active in the EU have more than one nationality among their members.
Here, the Commission will expand funding for the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), which has existed since 2010; it will propose to modernise the Prüm framework, which allows for the exchange of DNA, fingerprint, and vehicle registration information; and it will propose an EU police cooperation code that will unify the current patchwork of EU multilateral cooperation tools and agreements.
The Commission’s communication also mentions the progress to be expected from the interoperability of European information systems, which will provide law enforcement agencies with new resources in 2023.
Negotiations were also launched on 14 April to strengthen the cooperation agreement with Interpol.
On data retention, a consultation of States before June
The Commission also promises to present “possible approaches to data retention” and “a way forward to address lawful and targeted access to encrypted information for criminal investigations and prosecutions, while protecting the security and confidentiality of communications”.
“It will consult Member States before the end of June 2021 to determine the way forward.”
As regards the fight against trafficking in human beings, the Commission confirms that it will reflect on the possibility of establishing minimum rules criminalising the use of services resulting from the exploitation of victims of trafficking in human beings. It also plans to strengthen the directive on sanctions against employers and will propose legislation on corporate governance to clarify companies’ responsibilities.
It will try to tackle the online model of traffickers through a dialogue with internet companies and it will try to boost support for victims of trafficking.
Link to the papers: https://bit.ly/3mJ5O0U and https://bit.ly/3gaBKtW (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)