Madrid has officially presented its candidacy to host the headquarters of the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) in Brussels. The Madrid City Council, the Community and the Government have parked their differences and have come together to support it. All representatives have defended their good position.

During the ceremony at the Spanish Embassy before the European Union, the Secretary General of the Treasury and International Financing, Carlos Cuerpo; the General Director of Economy of the Community of Madrid, Juan Manuel López Zafra, and the Councilor for the Delegated Area of ​​Internationalization and Cooperation of the Madrid City Council, Santiago Saura Martínez de Toda.

Carlos Cuerpo has defended that one of the main assets of Madrid’s candidacy is “the fight against money laundering”. Likewise, he also recalled that “Spain is the only country in the EU and in the world with the highest qualifications” in areas such as supervision. According to the FATF organization, the world organization for supervision against money laundering, Spain is one of the few countries whose efficiency is between “substantial” and “high”.

For his part, Santiago Saura has argued that “the cost of living” in Madrid is “significantly higher” than other European cities, which may be another of its advantages, as well as the experience that the city has had in the past. to organize events, such as COP25 and the NATO summit last year. Saura has advanced that Madrid’s proposal is to locate the headquarters of the new authority in an “iconic building”, the Torre de Cristal -the highest in Spain- and in the financial center of the capital.

Likewise, another of the advantages of the candidacy, they defend, is also “the quality of life, digitization and connectivity” that the city offers, compared to other cities that have also presented their candidacy, such as Vienna, Frankfurt (although also Vilnius , Riga, Dublin and Luxembourg have positioned themselves).

The European Commission presented in July 2021 several legislative proposals to strengthen European regulations against money laundering and terrorist financing. His plan also included the creation of a new European Union authority to fight money laundering. An agency that aims to coordinate national authorities and ensure that the private sector applies European standards. Likewise, it will also support financial intelligence units to monitor illicit money flows.

The objective is for the new headquarters to become operational in 2024, although it has not yet been formally constituted in the absence of the conclusion of the negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council. It is expected to have approximately 300 workers, although with the goal that it can be expanded to 500 people.

The three institutions have defended the “excellent collaboration” to put “the best candidacy and the best possible project” and that it is an “example of joint work”.