U.S. : EU slow to freeze terrorist assets
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-29 21:18

The European Union is moving too slowly in identifying individuals and organizations suspected of links to terrorists and freezing their financial assets, a top U.S. counterterrorism official warned Thursday.

Stuart Levey, the U.S. Treasury Dept. undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, said European efforts to freeze assets were hampered by bureaucracy and needed to be streamlined to help thwart future attacks.

Levey, who is touring Europe to press his case, said he hoped Austria would make improving the EU's clearinghouse on terrorist information a priority when it takes over the bloc's rotating presidency on Jan. 1.

"The process within the EU has been a troubled one ... slow and cumbersome," Levey told reporters in Vienna, where he was meeting with Austrian political leaders and bankers to call for "a more energetic and aggressive approach."

The EU took years to declare Hamas a terrorist organization, yet there are still numerous groups around the continent that are raising money for the Palestinian group, Levey said.

The pro-Syrian Lebanese group Hezbollah also is not recognized as a terrorist organization.

"That concerns us very much because it clearly is," he said.

EU governments concede they need new rules to root out terrorist groups in Europe in wake of London's transit bombings in July. The 25 member states are bogged down in efforts to use financial records to flush out suspected terrorists and share what they have learned.

On Tuesday, the European Parliament rejected a proposal by EU governments to retain telephone and e-mail data for up to three years for use in anti-terrorism investigations. Citing concerns about civil liberties, lawmakers instead are focusing on a counterproposal by the EU's executive office that would keep data for a shorter time.

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