Crackdown on crime profits – EUbusiness Week newsletter 566 – EUbusiness.com

EUbusiness Week 566 top stories: Europe ends beef trade war with US, Canada; WTO orders US to halt Boeing subsidies; WTO action filed on China’s rare earth controls; Inheritance simplified under new cross-border EU rules; SWIFT to cut services for Iran firms blacklisted by EU; Resistant food bacteria strains now common: EU study

This Week’s Top Stories

1. Europe ends beef trade war with US, Canada
2. WTO orders US to halt Boeing subsidies
3. WTO action filed on China’s rare earth controls
4. Inheritance simplified under new cross-border EU rules
5. SWIFT to cut services for Iran firms blacklisted by EU
6. Resistant food bacteria strains now common: EU study

Publisher’s Note

The European Commission this week proposed new rules to allow more effective and widespread confiscation of the profits of crime. The proposals should help Member States confiscate assets transferred to third parties; confiscate assets when the suspect has fled; and temporarily freeze assets if they risk disappearing if no action is taken.

With EU sales of illicit drugs generating an estimated EUR 100bn per year, and the Italian mafia benefiting from around EUR 150bn annually, crime should not pay so much. And if its profits can be returned to the legal economy, this will not be unwelcome in current times of crisis.
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Regards,

Nick Prag
Publisher, EUbusiness

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1. Europe ends beef trade war with US, Canada

Europe on Wednesday ended a two-decade beef trade war with the United States and Canada by increasing imports of high-quality meat while keeping a ban on hormone-treated beef.
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2. WTO orders US to halt Boeing subsidies

The World Trade Organization has ordered the United States to halt unfair subsidies and tax breaks to planemaker Boeing, judging them to have damaged European rival Airbus.
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3. WTO action filed on China’s rare earth controls

The US, EU and Japan teamed up Tuesday to lay assault to China’s controls on exports of rare earth minerals, which are crucial in high-tech manufacturing.
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4. Inheritance simplified under new cross-border EU rules

EU cross-border inheritance headaches will be simplified under new proposals for heirs of the half a million people who die each year leaving property and accounts in more than one Member State.
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5. SWIFT to cut services for Iran firms blacklisted by EU

EU countries agreed Thursday to ban financial transfers such as SWIFT payments to hundreds of Iranian firms and individuals blacklisted over Iran’s contested nuclear drive.
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6. Resistant food bacteria strains now common: EU study

Bacteria that cause the main food-borne infections among people in the EU commonly show resistance to widely-used antibiotics and antimicrobials, an EU report shows.
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EUROPEAN LAW

Estonia: Estonia’s ombudsman asked the top court on Monday to decide if parts of the European Union’s new bailout fund is in line with the Estonian constitution.
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Myanmar tycoon’s son wins challenge on EU sanctions
Latest Court of Justice judgements
EU Law Firms
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Inside the EU Institutions

Council Watch

Kosovo: A spat between Belgrade and Pristina about the way Kosovo is represented in regional meetings has flared again despite an EU-brokered deal hammered out last month.
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No military solution in Syria: ministers
Europe’s right ‘doesn’t like me’: French Socialist Hollande
EU nations, including France, laud chief diplomat Ashton
Council …

Commission Watch

Hungary: the EU decided Tuesday to freeze 495 million euros in funds promised to Hungary next year if the country fails to put its public finances in order within three months.
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Macedonia EU integration in ‘new phase’: Commissioner
Asia flood victims to receive extra EUR 11m in EU aid
Commission …

Euro-Parliament Watch

Dutch website: MEPs have called on the Dutch government not to turn a blind eye to a far-right party’s policies and to investigate if its anti-immigrant website incites hatred.
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Euro-MPs urge end to Sinai human trafficking
In plenary this week, MEPs urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin to engage in dialogue with protestors, and called for rapid action to tackle the Schmallenberg virus. They also said they wanted Iceland to join the EU and called for a date for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to start accession talks. However, they voiced concern at the limited progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a potential candidate.
Parliament …

EU diary

12-15 Mar, European Parliament plenary session
16 Mar, Foreign Affairs Council meeting (trade issues)
19-20 Mar, Agriculture and Fisheries Council
22-23 Mar, Transport, Telecommunications & Energy Council
The Week Ahead
Long-term diary