EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BEEFS UP TOBACCO FRAUD PROTECTION FOR EU BUDGET
January 1st, 2007
BY KEITH NUTHALLTHE EUROPEAN Parliament is about to set cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting at the heart of a vastly expanded European Union (EU) programme fighting financial crimes that harm the EU budget: Hercule II. Current plans will see this scheme spend Euro 98 million over seven years, compared with just Euro 11 million over three years for its predecessor Hercule I (French for Hercules). MEPs have been debating the proposal and its committee on budgetary control has tabled changes that would increase its focus on illicit cigarette trading, which starve ...
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