EU enlargement – a triumph of hope?

The European Union is set to expand east and south in May 2004 as it welcomes 10 new members. Are these jurisdictions willing and able to play an effective part in the fight against money laundering? Alan Osborn investigates.

The eastern and southern Europe countries slated to join the European Union (EU) on 1 May 2004, have worked small wonders in recent years to set up anti-money laundering regimes, not least because EU entry might not otherwise have been permitted. Questions of motive and expediency are fraught and leaving them to one side, the facts are that the 10 accession countries have all signed up to the relevant international conventions on money laundering and none is on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of non-cooperative countries and territories (NCCTs).