The European Union agreed measures today to ensure proceeds of crime and terrorism can be confiscated across the EU in a bid to combat organised crime and political violence, diplomats said.
EU leaders asked justice and interior ministers to adopt the rules by June as part of the bloc's drive against terrorism after the March 11th Madrid bombings, which killed more than 190 people and wounded nearly 2,000.
Under the new rules, an EU state is obliged to seize assets belonging to criminals or suspected terrorists with property, accounts or other valuables in that country, if asked to do so by another member state.
"There is a political agreement," an EU diplomat said.
The EU's borderless Schengen area, created to ensure free movement of people within Europe, makes it easier for criminals and terrorists to move between member states, while national law enforcement has to stay within each state's territory.
The new confiscation orders together with a European arrest warrant, which came into force this year, and plans for cross-border judicial and police co-operation, aim to close that loophole and ensure no member state becomes a safe haven.
The rules must be formally adopted before they can enter into force in the soon-to-be 25 member EU.