Corruption, crime, moonlighting: huge sums of illegal origin are channeled into the regular economy every year.
With a cash limit, Brussels now wants to make money laundering more difficult.
Brussels / Frankfurt - According to experts, the fight against money laundering is only being waged half-heartedly in many EU countries.
Now the EU Commission wants to present plans to prevent billions of euros from criminal transactions from being fed into the regular economy more efficiently in the future.
An upper limit of 10,000 euros for payments with cash and a new surveillance authority are under discussion.
Nothing has been finally decided, but the proposals alone are causing discussions - especially in Germany.
Why is the EU Commission proposing a cash limit?
Proponents argue that it would make it harder for criminals to disguise the illegal origin of their income, and that terrorist financing would be just as difficult as undeclared work.
Because unlike electronic deposits or transfers, cash transactions hardly leave any traces.
Thus, an upper limit for bill and coin payments could curb criminal activity.
"We respect the fact that citizens like cash and we do not want to abolish it," EU financial market commissioner Mairead McGuinness told the
SZ
in May
.
“But we want clean euros, not dirty ones.
Money laundering poisons the economic system;
the money comes from criminal activities and flows into the legal economic cycle. "
Isn't Europe already doing enough against money laundering?
After a recent audit, the European Court of Auditors came to the conclusion that there are clear weaknesses.
For example, inadequate coordination at EU level was found in measures to prevent money laundering and in intervening after a risk was identified.
"The EU's weaknesses in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing must be eliminated, and supervision by the EU must be significantly strengthened," demanded chief auditor Mihails Kozlovs afterwards.
Would a cash cap be something completely new?
Most European countries already have maximum limits for cash payments - in Greece, for example, the limit is 500 euros, in Croatia it is 15,000 euros.
Countries such as Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Cyprus have not set any limits so far.
The EU Commission now wants all member states to enforce a ban on cash payments over 10,000 euros.
States that have introduced a lower limit can keep it.
How are the Brussels plans being received in Germany?
Bundesbank board member Johannes Beermann is critical of restricting cash payments to EUR 10,000. "So far there is no scientifically sound evidence that the goal of combating money laundering is achieved with upper limits for cash payments," Beermann recently told the
German press agency
. Beermann sees the danger that such a limit will "especially affect honest citizens". Germany's top consumer advocate, Klaus Müller, warned years ago that a cash limit would open “the gate to absolute control of consumers”. The right to anonymous shopping must be taken into account.
The CSU * MEP Markus Ferber says: “A Europe-wide uniform upper limit for cash is not needed.” The Commission would do well to take national sensitivities into account and leave it to the member states as to whether and to what extent there are upper cash limits.
Who would the 10,000 euro limit hit?
Five-digit cash payments are likely to be a rarity for most consumers.
In certain areas, however, upper limits could cause problems, for example when buying a used car.
Many sellers are reluctant to rely on the promise that the money will be transferred.
High rental deposits are also sometimes paid in cash.
Such transactions could, however, also be possible under the more stringent conditions: "This upper limit does not apply to private transactions between private individuals," says a draft for the regulation.
In countries with upper limits for cash payments, there are already some exceptions for transactions between private individuals.
How specific are the plans for the new supervisory authority?
According to the draft, the “Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA)” should also be able to impose financial sanctions in the event of violations of EU rules.
Hessen is campaigning for the new EU authority to be located in the banking metropolis of Frankfurt.
“It is important that the new EU authority comes to Frankfurt and not to Paris,” affirmed Thomas Richter, managing director of the German fund association BVI.
"Otherwise the tectonics could shift between the continental European financial centers in favor of Paris."
The European banking supervisory authority EBA and the European financial supervisory authority ESMA are already based in Paris, while Frankfurt has the European Central Bank (ECB) and the supervision of the large euro banks under its umbrella.
What's next now?
Once the plans have been presented, it is the turn of the Council of Member States and the European Parliament. If there are sufficiently large majorities there, the proposals of the EU Commission can be implemented. However, no final decisions are expected before the coming year.
(dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN-MEDIA.
