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On 2 December 2022, the Commission tabled a proposal for a directive on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures. It shortly comes after the Council gave green light to add the violation of restrictive measures to the list of "EU crimes" in Art. 83(1) TFEU, which empowers the EU to legislate on harmonised criminal law rules.

On 8 December 2022, the Council adopted a decision on full application of the Schengen acquis in Croatia, but blocked accession of Romania and Bulgaria into the area without internal border checks.

The Council and the European Parliament (on 22 and 23 November 2022, respectively) formally approved the EU budget for 2023. In total, next year's budget amounts to €186.6 billion in commitment appropriations and €168.6 billion in payment appropriations.

On 7 December 2022, the Council adopted its position on the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation and the new (sixth) Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The Council wishes, inter alia, to extend the scope of the AML/CFT Regulation, streamline the listing of high-risk third countries, and harmonise beneficial ownership rules.

On 22 November 2022, the Commission announced that it intends to no longer monitor Romania’s progress in judicial reforms and the fight against corruption under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM). Monitoring will continue under the annual rule of law cycle.

In conclusions adopted on 22 November 2022, the Council stressed the importance of the protection of the EU's financial interests in spending EU money for cohesion policy. Expenditure for cohesion is traditionally the biggest part of the EU budget.

In its Opinion 6/2022, the ECA welcomes several proposals made by the Commission to recast the EU's Financial Regulation. However, the auditors also raise critical points, such as the fact that the proposal does not tackle the insufficient reporting on the Commission's debt management.

In a legislative resolution of 23 November 2022, the EP paved the way for new EU revenue sources based on the Emission Trading System, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and the OECD/G20 global corporate tax agreement.

On 25 October 2022, GRECO published its fifth round evaluation report on Montenegro. Overall, the report found that ublic confidence in institutions in preventing and fighting corruption should be strengthened, but a comprehensive national strategy in this area is lacking.

Dear Readers, The next two issues of eucrim will focus on the relationship between administrative and criminal law. Topics include, for instance, the information flow between authorities conducting administrative investigations and those conducting criminal investigations at the European and national levels. This is of particular pertinence in the new institutional setting for the protection of the EU’s financial interests with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office – the first supranational authority tasked with investigating and prosecuting crimes – because the Office’s success heavily relies on cooperative support from administrative bodies, e.g. OLAF or authorities responsible for the financial management of EU…