Stop harbouring dictators' assets, MEPs tell EU Member States

Leaders of authoritarian regimes can spend their dubiously acquired wealth in the EU, despite measures to prevent it, because EU Member States provide safe havens for their personal fortunes and give them access to education and leisure services. This has to stop, says Parliament in a resolution passed on Thursday.

To many authoritarian leaders and their acolytes, the EU is an attractive place to invest, buy property, hold bank accounts and enjoy the "freedom to spend their often dubiously acquired wealth", MEPs note in the resolution, passed by a show of hands.

"The EU's hypocritical stance towards the leaders of authoritarian regimes needs to end. We publicly denounce their human rights records, while letting them busily stash their money away in our banks, own property within our borders, do business with our companies and holiday in our resorts. Our message has to be loud and clear: the EU will not help you launder your ill-gotten gains," says MEP Graham Watson (ALDE, UK), who drafted the report.

End selective application of sanctions

Applying restrictive measures inconsistently is not effective and damages the EU’s credibility, notes the resolution, which is Parliament's input to an EU sanctions policy review requested by the Council of Ministers.

MEPs call on the Member States to ensure that there are "no double standards when deciding on restrictive measures or sanctions and that these are applied regardless of political, economic and security interests".

They also invite the Commission and Member States to coordinate arms embargoes and pay due regard to International Criminal Court judgments relevant to EU sanctions policy.

Member States should also declare the names of persons on the sanctions list who hold property or financial assets within their borders and cooperate in identifying and confiscating those assets. Moreover, listed leaders and persons or organizations associated with them should be strictly prohibited from owning assets and property in the EU or travelling in Europe for leisure.

Academic institutions and sports and charity organizations should likewise be "prohibited from accepting funding, grants or donations from these leaders and their natural and legal associates".

Spare the innocent

At the same time, the EU should strive to minimise the impact of sanctions on the vulnerable and innocent populations of authoritarian regimes.

All restrictive measures must aim to influence only the accountable elites of repressive or criminal regimes, and should be coupled with support for civil society, so as to build respect for democracy and human rights.

Member States should endeavour to mobilise frozen and confiscated assets and repatriate them to their respective countries as soon as possible, so as to benefit the population, says the text.

Examples

Egypt's former dictator Hosni Mubarak invested a personal fortune estimated at $70 billion in the EU and US. The family of deceased Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is estimated to hold billions in assets across the EU, much of it in private property in the UK. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is suspected of holding vast assets in British banks. In spring 2011, the London School of Economics was shaken by the revelation that it had accepted more than £2 million to train Libyan civil servants.

Procedure:  Non-legislative resolution