Debate: State of play of the EU's fight against money laundering, in light of the Luanda Leaks
Date: WEDNESDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2020
Speaker: Helena Dalli
Language: EN

Beyond stability, we need to ensure the integrity of our financial system. It is not a problem of one country. The European Union should have zero tolerance for dirty money. We are willing to apply all of the tools at our disposal and to the fullest capacity. Moreover, we are ready to strengthen them. We will not hesitate to propose changes to the legislative and institutional architecture that supports our fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, as well as tax evasion and avoidance. Following up on the European Parliament’s resolution and the Ecofin conclusions of December, the Commission will adopt a new action plan on anti-money laundering that will seek to improve the enforcement of the rules. Much has been done in recent years. The fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which should have been transposed by Member States by 10 January, allows greater scrutiny of information around beneficial ownership by civil society, including by the press or civil society organisations and contributing to preserving trust in the integrity of business transactions and of the financial system. The legal framework currently in force seeks to ensure a proper balance between the need to ensure protection of privacy and of personal data and the need for more transparency in financial and economic activities. By establishing accessible registers of beneficial ownership information, the Union has achieved the gold standard worldwide in this respect. Regrettably, not all the Member States have transposed the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. Today, the Commission has started infringement procedures against eight Member States which are signalling a complete lack of transposition. However, our real problem is not a lack of rules; it is that the enforcement of rules is done at national level and is uneven from country to country. Recent legislative changes to the mandate of the European supervisory authorities granted new powers to the European Banking Authority to lead, coordinate and monitor the EU Supervisor’s fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. This covers the entire financial sector. The Commission, however, acknowledges that more must be done. There is a need to address structural weaknesses linked to regulatory fragmentation among Member States. This is where European added value lies. The Commission intends to work towards the establishment of a unified, comprehensive anti-money laundering policy, building on existing rules and introducing all necessary improvements. There is scope for harmonising the existing rules. There is need for more information sharing between law enforcement authorities to detect and prosecute criminals and to recover assets. In addition to a more detailed and harmonised set of rules based on regulations rather than on directives, a greater role for the EU in overseeing their implementation is justified. This applies as regards both supervision and coordination of the Financial Intelligence Units. An EU supervisory body for AML is a must-have, but creating a structure should not be our aim in itself. The body, be it a new one or building on the existing one, has to have a clearly-defined scope, powers and, very importantly, efficient governance. We know that we can count on the support of the European Parliament to bring about a revamped and more efficient supervisory and enforcement architecture. This is our ambition.