Brussels, 9 July 2025
Today, the European Parliament failed to block the European Commission’s proposal to remove, among others, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from its list of high-risk third countries for anti-money laundering. This means that banks and other gatekeeper professionals will no longer have to apply increased checks on transactions from the country.
The move largely follows last year’s controversial decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove the country from its so-called “grey list”. Russia is notably also not on the FATF’s list, but the Commission has now agreed to assess its risk level by the end of the year, in a concession to the European Parliament.
While the UAE has taken some minor welcome steps in recent years, investigations continue to show that these improvements fall short. The country still ranks poorly on real estate safeguards, with known fugitives and politically exposed persons holding property unchecked. Keeping the UAE on the EU’s list of high-risk countries would have helped maintain a degree of international scrutiny over the country’s anti-money laundering reforms and their implementation in practice.
Anna Terrone, Policy Officer for Illicit Financial Flows at Transparency International EU, said:
“Today’s vote marks a setback for the protection of the EU’s financial system. It also highlights that the current listing process – requiring the European Parliament to vote on the entire list rather than on a country-by-country basis – is no longer sustainable. There is still no clear evidence that the concerns raised by the European Parliament last year have been adequately addressed. We urge the Commission to honour its commitments and maintain a robust, structured dialogue with the UAE to encourage further progress.“
Eka Rostomashvili, Campaigns Lead – Corrupt Money Flows at Transparency International, said:
“The removal of the UAE from the EU’s high-risk list should not be mistaken for a clean bill of health. Authorities must continue upgrading the anti-money laundering framework and scale up enforcement against financial crime cases, particularly those that implicate foreign politically exposed persons – not least because FATF is set to reassess the country next year.”
