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At its meeting of 4-5 June 2018, the Home Affairs Ministers of the EU Member States took stock of the EU Policy Cycle for organised and serious international crime for the period 2014-2017. They highlighted the multidisciplinary component of the EU Policy Cycle thus far and gave orientation as regards future developments in combating these forms of crime.

On 27 July 2018, the European Central Bank (ECB) published it half-yearly statistics on euro banknote counterfeiting. 301,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in the first half of 2018. This is the lowest number of withdrawn counterfeit euro banknotes since 2015.

On 25 May 2018, the Council adopted conclusions on the EU standard provision on good governance in tax matters for agreements with third countries. The conclusions should further advance the EU’s strategy regarding external taxation as well as measures against tax treaty abuse which called for a new standard provision in line with the evolution of international standards in the tax area.

On 12 September 2018, the Commission presented a Communication entitled: “Strengthening the Union framework for prudential and anti-money laundering supervision for financial institutions.” The Commission outlines the next legislative and non-legislative steps to further enhance the supervision of financial institutions in the Union for purposes of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

On 12 September 2018, the Commission tabled a legislative proposal to amend existing EU rules on the supervision of banks and financial institutions to better address risks of money laundering and terrorist financing (COM(2018) 646 final).

On 19 June 2018, “Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU” was published in the Official Journal of the EU (L 156, 43). This legislative act is also referred to as the 5th Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive.

On 19 July 2018, the Commission brought Greece and Romania before the EU Court of Justice for non-compliance in transposing the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive into their national laws. Ireland was also referred to the CJEU because it has only implemented the rules of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive in a very limited way.

On 19 September 2019, the College of Commissioners gave green light for registering of a European Citizens’ Initiative, entitled “STOP FRAUD and abuse of EU FUNDS − by better control of decisions, implementation and penalties.”

On 30 May 2018, the Commission proposed the new EU Anti-Fraud Programme. It will replace the current Hercule III Programme which expires in 2020. The new EU Programme is expected to run from 2021 until 2027, which is the next long-term EU budget cycle.

In its Opinion 1/2018 of 12 July 2018, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) assessed the Commission’s plans to link the future multiannual financial framework with a EU Member State’s respect for the rule of law.