1.

Addresses the following recommendations to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR): (a) calls on the Member States and the Commission to consider cutting the funding sources of terrorist networks as a key priority, as it constitutes an effective tool for hampering the effectiveness of those networks; takes the view that preventive strategies based on the sharing of best practice and exchange of suspicious and relevant information among intelligence agencies is vital in combating the financing of terrorism and more generally terrorist attacks; calls on Member States’ intelligence agencies therefore to improve coordination and cooperation by setting up a stable European counter-terrorism financial intelligence platform, within the framework of existing structures (e.g. Europol) so as to avoid the creation of another agency, with an in-depth focus on the proactive exchange of information on the financial support for terrorist networks; considers that such a platform would create a joint database for data on physical and legal persons and suspicious transactions; stresses that high-value data collected by any national security agency should be transmitted swiftly the moment it is recorded on the central system, which should be permitted to include information on non-EU nationals, taking particular account of possible impacts on fundamental rights and in particular the right to the protection of personal data and the principle of purpose limitation; emphasises that the information concerned must include, inter alia, a directory of banks, financial institutions and commercial entities both within and outside Europe, as well as third countries which have shortcomings in combating the financing of terrorism; calls on the Commission to draw up such a directory as quickly as possible, on the basis of its own criteria and analysis in accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/849; reiterates that those responsible for directly or indirectly committing, organising or supporting terrorist acts must be held to account for their actions; (b) calls on European countries, both EU Member States and third countries, to provide funding for programmes fostering the sharing of best practices among their intelligence agencies, including on the investigation and analysis of terrorists and terrorist organisations’ methods of recruiting and transferring terrorist financing; recommends the introduction of quarterly public threat assessments that combine the intelligence and information gathered by Europol and the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (INTCEN); calls on the Member States to ensure sufficient funding and human resources for intelligence agencies; (c) underlines, as reiterated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which has developed a strategy on combating terrorist financing, that it is extremely important that information-sharing should be improved, and sped up, among financial intelligence units, between Financial Intelligence Units and the security forces and law enforcement and intelligence agencies within their own jurisdictions, among different jurisdictions, and in the private sector, especially the banking sector; (d) welcomes GCC engagement with the FATF; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to actively encourage the EU’s partners, particularly the GCC and its member states, to fully implement the FATF recommendations in addressing deficiencies in the areas of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism and offer technical assistance in achieving progress in these areas; (e) calls on the VP/HR to support the efforts of the FATF and to prioritise countering terrorist financing, in particular identifying and working with UN member states with strategic anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing deficiencies; (f) calls for the cooperation between Europol and the EU’s key strategic partners that play a key role in the fight against terrorism worldwide to be reinforced; believes that closer cooperation would make it possible to better prevent, detect and respond to terrorism financial hubs; calls on the Member States to make better use of the informal network of European Financial Information Units (FIU.net), on the basis of the work done by Europol, by implementing the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive and by adopting regulatory measures to address other issues stemming from the divergent status and competences of financial intelligence units, in particular to facilitate coordination and exchange of information both among financial intelligence units, and between financial intelligence units and law enforcement authorities for the purpose of sharing the information concerned with the European counter-terrorism intelligence platform; (g) recalls that strengthened political dialogue, increased financial assistance and support for counter-terrorism capacity-building of EU’s partners that are at the front line in the fight against terrorism are of utmost importance; (h) calls on the Member States to step up the monitoring of suspicious organisations engaged in these kind of activities, such as illicit trade, smuggling, counterfeiting and fraudulent practices via the formulation of joint investigation teams with Europol, making it easier for law enforcement agencies to access suspicious transactions, taking account of the proportionality principle and the right to privacy; calls on the Member States to provide more training for and increase the specialisation of investigators in order to achieve that; calls on the Commission to support and adequately fund the development of training programmes for law enforcement and judicial authorities in Member States; (i) calls on the Member States and the Commission to provide an annual report on progress made and measures taken concerning the fight against the funding of terrorism and, namely, efforts made to hamper ISIS/Daesh and Al-Qaeda’s financing; recalls that some Member States are more invested than others in the field of targeting terrorism financing and thus the best response should be to increase information-sharing, namely pertaining to the effectiveness of measures already put in place; (j) welcomes the Commission’s proposal for the establishment of bank account registers and for facilitating access to them by financial intelligence units and other competent authorities engaged in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism; notes that the Commission is shortly to propose an initiative to give law-enforcement agencies wider access to the registers; underscores the need, when exchanging bank account information, to observe the rules on police cooperation and judicial cooperation, particularly in the context of criminal proceedings; calls, in that regard, on the Member States which have not yet transposed Directive 2014/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014, regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters, to do so as soon as possible; (k) calls on the Member States to take the necessary legislative measures to guarantee that banks monitor pre-paid debit cards closely so as to ensure that they can only be reloaded via bank transfers and personally identifiable accounts; stresses the importance of an attribution chain enabling the intelligence services to determine when a transaction has a serious risk of being used for terrorist or other serious crime; calls furthermore on the Member States to make the necessary provisions to fully facilitate the opening of a bank account to all those present in their territory; (l) stresses the need to put an end to any type of tax haven that facilitates money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion that can play a role in the financing of terrorist networks; calls on Member States, in this context, to combat tax evasion and urges the Commission to propose and implement measures for the close monitoring of financial flows and tax havens; (m) notes the successful cooperation with the USA and other partners and the usefulness of the information obtained, in the context of the EU-US agreement to share information from the US Terrorism Financing Tracking Program (TFTP); calls on the Commission to propose the establishment of a specifically European system in this area, to complement the current framework and address current gaps, particularly as regards SEPA, ensuring that a balance is struck between security and individual freedoms; points out that European data protection standards would apply to this intra-European system; (n) calls on the VP/HR and on the Member States, in cooperation with the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, to draw up a list of individuals and entities operating under opaque regimes and with high rates of suspicious financial transactions, where there is evidence that relevant authorities have failed to act, especially if they are affiliated with jihadist radicalism; calls on the VP/HR and the Member States to take into account a state’s involvement in the financing of terrorism in their relations with this state; (o) calls on the Council of the European Union to step up the application of selective sanctions and other restrictive measures against all individuals and entities that in any way make available economic resources to ISIS/Daesh, Al-Qaeda or other jihadist groups; calls for freezing the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of these individuals, groups, undertakings and entities (including funds derived from property owned or controlled directly or indirectly by them or by persons acting on their behalf or at their instruction); welcomes the establishment of the UN Security Council committee responsible for supervising the application of sanctions; notes that all Member States are obliged by UN Security Council resolution 2253 (2015) to act swiftly in blocking funds and financial assets to ISIS/Daesh, Al-Qaeda and associated individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities; calls on the VP/HR to support the call of the UN Security Council on member states of the UN to move vigorously and decisively to cut the flow of funds and other financial assets and economic resources to individuals and entities on the ISIS/Daesh and Al-Qaeda Sanctions List; (p) calls on the EU Member States to establish a monitoring and clearing system to ensure that places of worship and education, institutions, centres, charities, cultural associations and similar entities, where there is reasonable suspicion of having ties to terrorist groups, provide details on whom they receive funds from and how the funds they receive are distributed, both within and outside the EU, and calls for all the transactions made by those sending funds to be recorded in a centralised database, set up with all the appropriate guarantees; calls for the introduction of mandatory ex ante monitoring of the source of money and its destination where charities are concerned, when there are reasonable grounds of suspicion of links to terrorism, so as to prevent money from being distributed maliciously or negligently for terrorist purposes; urges that all such measures be carried out as part of specific programmes designed to combat Islamophobia, in order to avoid an increase in hate crimes, attacks on Muslims or any racist and xenophobic attacks motivated by religion or ethnicity; (q) calls on the Member States to provide greater oversight and regulate traditional ways of money transfer (such as the hawala or the Chinese fei ch’ien, among others), or informal value transfer systems, namely through the ongoing procedure for the adoption of a regulation on controls on cash entering or leaving the Union (2016/0413(COD)), making it mandatory for agents carrying out the transactions to declare to the relevant authorities every significant transaction made using these systems, and emphasising, while communicating with groups affected by these measures, that the aim is not to crack down on traditional informal money transfers, but on trafficking involving organised crime, terrorism or industrial/commercial profits deriving from dirty money; calls, in this respect, for: (i) all intermediaries and/or individuals involved in said activity (controllers or brokers, middlemen and fixers, coordinators, collectors and transmitters) to be required to register with the relevant national authority; (ii) all transactions to be declared and documented in a way that facilitates transfer of information when requested; (iii) dissuasive penalties to be established and imposed on intermediaries and/or others involved in undeclared transactions; (r) calls on the Commission to propose the legislation required to better monitor all electronic financial transactions and e-money issuing companies, including intermediaries, in order to prevent funds from being converted for users who are not fully identified, as can be the case with users of public networks or anonymous browsers; stresses, in this respect, that exchanging encrypted money for actual money and vice versa must, as a compulsory requirement, be done using an identifiable bank account; calls on the Commission to carry out an assessment on the implications for the financing of terrorism of e-gaming activities, virtual currencies, crypto currencies, block chain and FinTech technologies; calls on the Commission, furthermore, to consider possible measures, including legislation to create a regulatory framework for these activities in order to limit the tools for the financing of terrorism; (s) calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase their monitoring regarding regulating and controlling trafficking in gold, precious stones and precious metals, so that these goods are not used as ways of financing terrorist activities; calls for the establishment of criteria agreed and followed by Member States; calls on the Commission and the Member States to prohibit and sanction all commercial traffic (both exports and imports) with jihadist-controlled areas, with the exception of those humanitarian aid goods necessary for the subdued population; calls for prosecution and sanctioning for imprudence or malice of all those (either natural or legal persons) that participate in said trafficking, in any form (buying, selling, distribution, intermediation or otherwise); notes the specific risks of financing of terrorism through money or value transfer services (MVTS); calls on the Member States to devise an enhanced partnership and cooperation between MTVS agents and European law enforcement agencies and to issue guidelines to identify and address any specific barriers that prevent information sharing on suspicious money transfers; (t) welcomes the proposal for a regulation on the import of cultural goods and highlights its importance in tackling the illegal import of these goods with a view to financing terrorism; calls on the Commission to bring in a traceability certificate for artworks and antiques entering the EU market, especially for items originating from territories or places controlled by any armed non-state actors, as well as from organisations, groups or individuals included in the EU terror list; calls on the Commission to step up its cooperation with international organisations such as the UN, Unesco, Interpol, the World Customs Organisation and the International Council of Museums in order to strengthen efforts to combat the trafficking of cultural goods as a means of financing terrorism; calls on the Member States to establish police units that are specialised in dealing with the trafficking of cultural goods, and to ensure coordination among those units across the Member States; calls on the Member States to make it mandatory for companies involved in art dealing to declare all suspicious transactions, and to impose on the owners of companies dealing in art and antiques who become involved in the trafficking of such goods effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties — including criminal penalties, where necessary — for the financing of terrorism through negligence; calls on the Commission to strengthen support to third countries, especially neighbouring countries, in their efforts to tackle crime and trafficking as source of terrorist financing; (u) calls on the Commission to propose measures to increase the transparency of origin, transport and brokering of commodities, especially petrochemicals, in order to strengthen traceability and stop the unwitting financing of terrorist organisations; (v) calls on the Commission to look into the possibility of reforming the relevant regulations and directives with the aim of ensuring that financial institutions are required to ask for information on the reason why suspicious small and large-scale transactions are being made, with a view to monitoring the payment of ransoms to terrorist organisations; calls on the Member States to take preventive measures targeting economic operators in areas at risk, with the aim of assisting them in their activities; (w) calls on the EEAS to appoint a financial intelligence expert to the new CSDP mission in Iraq, so as to support the Iraqi Government in preventing ISIS/Daesh and Al-Qaeda assets from being taken out of the country, and to help the Iraqi authorities in developing programmes designed to combat money laundering; (x) calls on the Commission and the Member States, as part of their dialogue with third-country partners on the fight against terrorism, to focus their efforts on police and judicial cooperation and on exchanging data and good practice so as to strengthen synergies in the global drive to combat the financing of terrorism; (y) welcomes the establishment of a network of counter-terrorism experts in EU delegations; calls for this network to be reinforced and extended to more regions, and in particular the Horn of Africa (and South-East Asia; points out the importance of the inclusion of counter-terrorism objectives in the mandates of EU CSDP missions and operations, in particular in Libya, the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East; urges the EEAS to appoint a financial intelligence expert in its CSDP missions in countries in which there could be terrorist hubs and in the Sahel region, and to establish, in an effective manner, close cooperation with the governments in the areas concerned; (z) calls on the Commission and Member States to do more to encourage third-country partners to sign and ratify the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, which sets out a number of principles and standards with a view to eradicating the financing of terrorism, and to implement the convention effectively; (aa) stresses that addressing and alleviating socio-economic grievances, fostering viable states and ensuring respect for human rights are essential in order to reduce breeding grounds for ISIS/Daesh, Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups, including regarding their capacities of financial autonomy; (ab) urges the VP/HR and the EEAS to enhance cooperation with countries in which the proceeds of drug trafficking, human trafficking or traffic in goods are held and with countries of origin of illicit cigarettes, so that they can be seized; (ac) urges the VP/HR and the EEAS to lead initiatives in the international fora to enhance corporate ownership transparency, namely through the creation of a public registers of legal entities, including companies, trusts and foundations, and of a central register of bank accounts, financial instruments, real estate property, life insurance contracts and other relevant assets which might be abused to launder money and finance terrorism; (ad) calls on the Council and the Commission to establish and implement an annual benchmark reporting mechanism to Parliament on measures taken by the Member States and the Commission against the funding of terrorism; (ae) urges the VP/HR and the EEAS to support our foreign partners in their domestic efforts to curb financial flows from private individuals to organisations deemed to be providing aid and resources to terrorists; (af) urges the Member States to swiftly adopt the Commission’s proposed VAT reforms, to prevent criminal organisations from exploring the gaps in the European VAT system to finance terrorism and other criminal activities; (ag) welcomes the Commission proposal on the mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders; (ah) reaffirms the view that confronting and defeating ISIS/Daesh, Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups, whether financially, militarily or ideologically, must remain at the top of the security and defence agenda; calls on the EEAS to use its diplomatic engagement with regional states to emphasise this common interest for both the EU and regional actors;