Anyone convicted of a serious crime or corruption should be barred from tendering for public contracts or standing for election in the EU for at least five years, says the Special Committee on Organised Crime in a resolution voted on Tuesday. Mafia membership should be made a crime throughout the EU, and EU-wide rules drawn up on how to use confiscated mafia assets for social purposes, it adds.

The EU should establish a public prosecutor to protect its financial interests and introduce an EU-wide definition of Mafia-style crime, it was suggested in the Special Committee against Organised Crime on Monday. Other draft proposals include laying down new rules to protect public tendering against organised crime and using confiscated criminal assets to benefit the community.

Confiscated mafia assets should be re-used for social purposes, said members of the Special Committee on Organised Crime at Wednesday's public hearing on money laundering.

Removing the financial control of mafia organisations over banks should be a priority in the EU's fight against organised crime. Monitoring high-risk clients' activities and sharing information on an EU database are among the proposals debated at a public hearing organised by the special committee on organised crime on Monday. Speakers also said taxing online gambling could help.

The EP's special committee on organised crime looked at a range of options on Monday aimed at tackling organised crime across the EU. They included a Union-wide definition of mafia-related crimes, the possibility of seizing criminal assets and using them to benefit the community, new rules on public procurement and the creation of an EU prosecutor.

Parliament's Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering will hold a public hearing on prevention, investigation and repression of organised crime in the EU, on Wednesday 11 July from 9:00 to 18.30, in room JAN 4Q2.