It is now official: the European Commission is proposing to remove the United Arab Emirates from the list of countries at high risk of money laundering established by the European Union (EU). The Brussels executive made public, Thursday March 14, “ the delegated act » which serves as a draft list and endorses his decision to rehabilitate the Emirates, at the same time as Panama, Gibraltar, Barbados and Uganda. The European Parliament now has one month to decide on this list which, without objection on its part, will be adopted as is.
The Brussels proposal could cause some stir in Strasbourg. In a common letter revealed by The world on March 8, a transpartisan group of seven European parliamentarians (Greens-European Free Alliance, Socialists and Democrats, Renew Europe and the European United Left) expressed alarm to the European Commissioner responsible for financial services, Mairead McGuinness, over a possible removal of the United Arab Emirates from the new European list, warning Brussels against a hasty decision that carries risks for the EU financial system.
In fact, among the seven emirates in the process of being “laundered” by Europe, is Dubai, one of the world’s largest financial centers, regularly suspected of harboring the money of criminals and Russian oligarchs under sanctions. . Recently, investigations by NGOs or consortiums of investigative journalists, such as the “Dubai Uncovered” scandal »published by The world and several international media in 2022, showed that Russian oligarchs had managed to circumvent the sanctions targeting them, using the United Arab Emirates to launder their money.
Brussels’ haste denounced
However, in the midst of Russia’s war against Ukraine, and while the EU devotes significant resources to sanctioning those close to and possible creditors of the Kremlin, and to enforcing these sanctions, the Commission’s project has what it takes question. Especially since the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism has been made a priority by Brussels, which must adopt a reinforced action plan on this subject, before the European elections in June.
The proposal is certainly based on the analysis of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the intergovernmental reference organization which develops anti-money laundering standards on a global scale. On February 23, the organization announced the withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates from its “grey list” of countries under enhanced surveillance – which now only has twenty-one. Of the “significant progress” were accomplished by the Emirates to “improve their anti-money laundering system”correct the deficiencies identified in 2022 and facilitate international investigations, justified the FATFwithout however publishing a detailed and quantified report to support its decision.
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