Thursday

8th Jun 2023

Saudi Arabia evades EU dirty-money list for now

  • EU home affairs ministers to formalise the veto on Thursday (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

EU states have rejected a European Commission proposal to blacklist Saudi Arabia and four US territories on money laundering and terrorist financing grounds.

All 28 member countries' ambassadors blocked the move at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday (6 March) in an unusual step, an EU source said.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • US Virgin Islands - ambassadors' veto came after Saudi Arabia and US complained about the commission proposal (Photo: EUobserver)

The veto is to be formalised by EU justice and home affairs ministers on Thursday, forcing the commission to submit a new proposal later down the line.

The commission had called to add Saudi Arabia and the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, as well as Panama, Libya, and some other countries, to what is known in the EU capital as the "dirty-money list".

But EU states complained about due process, saying the proposed new register had exceedingly loose legal criteria and that they had not been adequately consulted on its contents, the EU source noted.

"It was not about leaving off this or that country. It was disagreement on points of principle," the source said.

"The Council [member states] does not have the power to add or remove names from the list, only to approve or disapprove of the whole document," the source added.

The veto came after Saudi Arabia and the US had complained about the commission proposal.

The listing would have damaged "trade and investment flows between the kingdom and the European Union", Saudi Arabia's king Salman said in a letter to EU leaders.

The US ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, also said last Friday, as objections began to surface, that it was "heartening to see common sense from the member states prevail over the commission's dogmatic posturing".

Vera Jourova, the Czech EU commissioner who drew up the failed proposal, had stood by her text on Tuesday.

"I personally gave a lot of commitments and promises to European people that we will efficiently fight against money-laundering and terrorist financing," she told MEPs in a committee hearing.

But Jourova herself had also voiced forebodings that her list would not pass prior to the ambassadors' veto on Wednesday.

"I did not ask the member states why they are opposing. I will ask the member states in the near future what shall we do together to achieve this goal," she told the MEPs.

The blacklist, which was first created in 2016, is not a sanctions register, but EU banks which do business with countries which are named and shamed must do higher levels of due diligence on financial transactions.

The back-and-forth on Saudi Arabia comes after it shocked Europe by ordering the murder of a journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in Turkey last year.

Several EU states, led by Germany, imposed an arms embargo in response, but there was no EU-level or US reaction.

The oil kingdom has also tried to mend fences by sending diplomats to meet EU officials via the College of Bruges, an EU-funded academy in Belgium.

The existing dirty-money register, which includes countries such as Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Pakistan, is to remain in force pending the approval of another commission draft.

The fact that neither Azerbaijan nor Russia were included in Jourova's proposals meant she was not prepared to really crack down on corruption, campaigners noted in February, when her draft list first came out.

Investigation

EU college defends Saudi-style visits, attacks 'sloppy' media

College of Europe rector Jorg Monar says the surplus money made from setting up closed-door meetings between the Saudi government and EU officials, including MEPs, "would barely cover the replacement costs of a beamer in a College seminar room."

Opinion

UK, France should join German Saudi arms embargo

Rather than blame Germany, France and the UK should follow its lead and join other European states that have stood up for human rights, and help spare embattled Yemeni civilians.

Investigation

Saudis and their lobbyists risk losing access to EU parliament

The leadership of the Greens have asked European Parliament president Antonio Tajani to "revoke access badges to Saudi officials and to public relations companies or other entities working for or on the behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

Latest News

  1. Europeans don't see China as a rival, but weapons to Russia is a red line
  2. Cleaning workers urge Parliament: "Europe should lead by example"
  3. Final push for EU-Mercosur deal, amid deforestation fears
  4. Ministers given 50/50 chance of reaching EU asylum deal
  5. EU Commission wants better focus on mental health care
  6. Right of Reply from the Hungarian government
  7. True scale of horror in today's Belarus hard to comprehend
  8. Israeli settlers encircling Jerusalem, EU envoys warn

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us