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EU legislers have voted to remove the United Arab Emirates and Gibraltar from the “gray” list of countries of the block with lax money laundering practices, in a movement to facilitate conversations to a trade agreement with Abu Dhabi.
The two belong to the eight jurisdictions that are removed from the list, which entails reputation damage and adds costs to transactions involving people or entities from listed countries, because financial institutions have to perform extra due diligence.
Abu Dhabi had discussed the issue as an irritating agent in trade discussions with Brussels, as a result of which Maroš Šefčovič, the trade commissioner of the EU, parliamentarians of his social -democratic grouping would ask the European Commission to remove the UAE and other countries from the list.
The removals will take effect in the coming weeks after publication in the official magazine.
The deletion of Gibraltar was controversial among the Spanish members of the European Parliament, because Madrid claims sovereignty about the British overseas territory.
Last year, MEPS rejected a movement to remove Gibraltar and the VAE from the list about that issue and worries about the standards of the latter about anti-money laundering of its that were again discussed this year.
A majority of groups in parliament, meanwhile, supported the addition of Russia to the gray list during a hearing last week, according to people who were present.
But a last-minute promise of the committee to reconsider the list of Russia by the end of this year helped to win support for a majority of the EP-EP-EP EPs for the committee’s removal list.
The committee welcomed the result and said that “it recognizes the important and successful efforts made by the countries that are removed in strengthening the effectiveness of their frameworks for combating money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism”.
Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, a Foreign Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the VAE, said the country welcomed the move. “The VAE remains a reliable and strategic partner of the EU, who is committed to AML/CFT systems are not only robust, but also future-proof and able to tackle emerging global threats.
“We look forward to unlocking the full potential of the UE-EU partnership, to promote closer cooperation, improved prosperity and shared security for our regions and peoples,” he added.
The anti-wuewas practice and the financing of the EU’s anti-money financing of the gray list usually follows the one issued by the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental authority set up to combat terrorism financing and money laundering. Fatf removed the VAE and Gibraltar in 2024.
The Russian membership of FATF was suspended one year after the entire invasion of Ukraine, but different countries with links to Russia are expected to resist every movement to add it to the Fatf Gray list.
The EU could decide to mention Russia independently of the FATF, but has so far resisted for fear of a lawsuit.
Other countries that are removed from the list after Wednesday’s mood are Barbados, Jamaica, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal and Uganda.
The MEPs also voted to add Algeria, Angola, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela to the gray list.