On Monday 30 June, the European Parliament’s Committees on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) strongly criticised the European Commission’s list of high-risk jurisdictions in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. Maria Luís Albuquerque, the Commissioner for Financial Services, defended it as best she could.
On Tuesday 10 June, the Commission had proposed an update to this list, even though the European Parliament had opposed the withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates in April 2024 (see EUROPE 13397/2, 13656/16).
During the exchange of views, MEPs were once again unconvinced by this decision. They criticised as well the removal of Gibraltar from the list, as well as the absence of Russia. They also expressed doubts about the methodology adopted by the Commission. In return, they received the same responses, the discussion having gone round in circles.
“This is a rather unsatisfactory meeting that we are all attending here, a bit similar to the one that we had in the previous term”, deplored Lena Düpont (EPP, German).
With regard to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Commissioner confined herself to talking about the EU’s relations with the jurisdiction and the European position in defence of multilateralism “at a time when it is being so much threatened. “As a follow-up to our latest structural dialogue with the UAE, the UAE authorities have sent us a written commitment to implement further tangible measures to enhance judicial and law enforcement cooperation. Since then, the UAE authorities have already taken significant steps in implementing these commitments. We believe that these commitments and the tangible improvements that we have already observed are a very powerful signal in response to the concerns expressed by the European Parliament”, she reported. She also mentioned the ongoing negotiations on a free trade agreement, for which she is currently seeking a negotiating mandate.
In the case of Gibraltar, Ms Albuquerque pointed out that the governments of the EU Member States were involved in the decisions, as members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which draws up the list. “A forward-looking mechanism will be established allowing both parties to discuss and accommodate future regulatory changes in order to preserve a level playing field”, she stressed. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)