The European Parliament adopted by 533 votes to 24,
with 43 abstentions, a European Parliament recommendation to the
Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the
Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy on cutting the sources of income for jihadists -
targeting the financing of terrorism.
Members considered that one of the key elements of the
fight against terrorism is to cut off its sources of
financing, including through the hidden circuits of fraud and
tax evasion, money laundering and tax havens.
While some financing may come from within European
countries for use elsewhere by terrorist organisations, other
funding comes from outside Europe, in order to finance
radicalisation and actual terrorist acts. Cutting off the
sources of financing of terrorism should be part of an EU
broader strategy integrating both external and internal security
dimensions.
Illicit trade in goods,
firearms, oil, drugs, cigarettes and cultural objects, among other
items, as well as trafficking in human beings, slavery, child
exploitation, racketeering and extortion, have become ways for
terrorist groups to obtain funding.
A number of international non-profit organisations,
charities, other foundations, networks and private donors, which
have or claim to have social or cultural goals, laid the foundation
for the financial capacities of ISIS/Daesh, Al-Qaeda and other
jihadist organisations and act as a cover for abusive practices.
ISIS/Daesh and Al-Qaeda have become financially
self-reliant.
The global nature of terrorism calls for a global
response involving coordination among financial institutions,
law enforcement and judicial bodies and the exchange of information
on natural and legal persons and suspicious activities, while
ensuring respect for fundamental rights concerning the protection
of personal data.
Parliament called on the European Parliament to
address the following recommendations to the Council, the
Commission and the European External Action Service:
- develop preventive strategies based on the sharing of
best practice and exchange of suspicious and relevant information
among intelligence agencies through the setting up of 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. Such a platform would create a joint database
for data on physical and legal persons and suspicious
transactions;
- 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;
- identify and work with UN member states with strategic
anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing
deficiencies;
- 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;
- observe the rules on police cooperation and
judicial cooperation, particularly in the context of criminal
proceedings;
- 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;
- propose and implement measures for the close
monitoring of financial flows and tax havens;
- 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;
- 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;
- 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;
- make it mandatory for agents carrying out the
transactions to declare to the relevant authorities every
significant transaction made using traditional informal money
transfer systems;
- 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. Exchanging
encrypted money for actual money and vice versa must, as a
compulsory requirement, be done using an identifiable bank
account;
- increase their monitoring regarding regulating and
controlling trafficking in gold, precious stones and precious
metals;
- introduce a traceability certificate for
artworks and antiques entering the EU market;
- 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;
- lead initiatives in the international fora to
enhance corporate ownership transparency.
Parliament reaffirmed 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.
It called 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.