ZARZALEJOS CALLS FOR A COORDINATED EUROPEAN RESPONSE TO MONEY LAUNDERING AT AMLA

The Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Javier Zarzalejos, spoke on 9 June in Frankfurt at the first Annual Conference of the new European Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Authority (AMLA). In his address, he emphasised the strategic importance of the new body and argued that its establishment represents “a defining institutional moment” for the European Union in a field that is crucial to the protection of the rule of law.

Zarzalejos congratulated the Authority’s Chair, Bruna Szego, and her team on the work carried out to make the agency operational, highlighting the high expectations surrounding its creation. In this context, he stressed that money laundering “is not merely a technical issue,” but a phenomenon directly linked to organised crime, terrorism, and corruption. “It is not a victimless crime: it is the circulatory system of organised crime,” he stated, underlining its direct impact on public trust in democratic institutions.

The MEP described the EU’s anti-money laundering reform as a structural shift in approach, moving from fragmented national systems towards a coordinated model of action at the European level. In this regard, he advocated strengthening the role of the wider legal economy in preventing such activities, including sectors such as real estate, professional services, and high-value goods. As he noted, “86% of the most dangerous criminal networks manage to infiltrate the legal economy,” referring to Europol data.

Finally, Zarzalejos stressed that the effectiveness of the new tools must be accompanied by full legal safeguards. In his words, “effectiveness and respect for fundamental rights are not conflicting objectives; they reinforce one another,” highlighting the need to ensure data protection, proportionality, and proper oversight in access to sensitive information.