EU adopts 'stronger' rules to fight terror financing

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans stated: "With today's proposals, we strengthen our legal means to disrupt and cut off the financial sources of criminals and terrorists."

Brussels, Dec 21 The European Commission on Wednesday adopted a package of measures to fight the financing of terrorism and organised crime in the EU. The proposals will reinforce the EU's legal framework in the areas of money laundering, illicit cash flows and the freezing and confiscation of assets, Xinhua reported.

In the package, the EC proposed a new directive to criminalise money laundering, which will remove obstacles to cross-border judicial and police cooperation related to money laundering investigation. The EC also took strong measures on regulating large cash flows and freezing terrorists' financial resources.

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans stated: "With today's proposals, we strengthen our legal means to disrupt and cut off the financial sources of criminals and terrorists." "We must ensure we have the right tools in place to detect and stop suspicious financial flows and to support better cooperation between law enforcement authorities so that we can better protect the security of European citizens," Timmermans added.

IANS