Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

European Legislations Amended to Combat Financing Terrorism | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Brussels-The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs will jointly vote Tuesday on the legislative report on preventing the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing.

The proposed directive aims to enhance transparency of financial transactions and of corporate entities under the preventive legal framework already in place in the European Union.

Europeans travelling to fight in Iraq or Syria represents a growing threat to the EU, so the European Parliament in Brussels approved few days ago new rules to ensure stronger checks at the EU’s external borders and prevent the preparation of terrorist acts.

It is hoped the new directive on combating terrorism will be a valuable tool in tackling the phenomenon of aspiring or returning foreign fighters and so-called “lone wolves.”

498 MPs approved the new rules against 114 votes and 29 abstentions. The European Parliament also approved other new rules to intensify censorship on the external borders in order to improve the internal security of the EU.

The text was drafted by German EPP member Monika Hohlmeier.

During a debate on 15 February ahead of the vote, she said: “We have struck a good balance between security and upholding basic rights, because there is no point in having security without rights.”

Hohlmeier added: “We need to arrest the perpetrators before they commit terrorist acts, and we should not have to wait until we express our regret at the occurrence of such crimes.”

MEPs also approved a regulation to tighten up the screening of Europeans as well as people from other parts of the world when they enter the EU.

They will be checked against databases, for example those for lost and stolen documents.

Since May 2015, the EU has adopted a series of measures to fight terrorism.