EU Lawmakers Push Crypto Onto Anti-Corruption Agenda
Key Takeaways
- •Members of the European Parliament adopted a nonbinding resolution on Thursday setting out priorities for the EU's first anti-corruption strategy, which the European Commission plans to adopt by the end of 2026.
- •The resolution asks the Commission to address corruption risks linked to crypto assets, opaque ownership structures and digital tools in the upcoming strategy.
- •Lawmakers called for stronger efforts to trace, freeze, confiscate and recover criminal proceeds, along with reinforced asset recovery mechanisms across the bloc.
- •Parliament also demanded stricter public procurement and grant rules, harmonized conflict-of-interest standards, clearer lobbying rules, common political financing rules and stronger protections for whistleblowers and investigative journalists.
- •The planned strategy will complement the EU anti-corruption directive, which entered into force in May and harmonizes definitions of corruption offenses and minimum penalties across the bloc.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are pressing the European Commission to address corruption risks linked to crypto assets, opaque ownership structures and digital tools in the European Union's first anti-corruption strategy, which is currently in preparation.
In a nonbinding resolution adopted on Thursday, MEPs set out their priorities for the upcoming strategy, which the Commission plans to adopt by the end of 2026. Among the central demands, lawmakers called for stronger efforts to trace, freeze, confiscate and recover criminal proceeds. The text also calls for reinforced asset recovery mechanisms across the bloc.
Because the resolution carries no legal force, it functions as a formal statement of Parliament's priorities rather than a binding requirement on the Commission itself.
Parliament published its priorities in a press release on its official website.
The planned strategy is intended to complement the EU's anti-corruption directive, which entered into force in May. The directive harmonizes definitions of corruption offenses and minimum penalties across the bloc, according to the Commission's anti-corruption policy page. In practice, the two instruments operate on different tracks: the directive sets common legal definitions and penalties, while the strategy will lay out the EU's broader policy priorities on corruption.
The resolution's scope extended well beyond asset recovery. MEPs called for stricter rules on public procurement and grants, more harmonized standards for conflicts of interest, clearer lobbying rules and common rules for political financing. They also urged stronger protections for whistleblowers and investigative journalists.
The resolution signals that crypto assets, opaque ownership structures and digital tools will sit alongside procurement, lobbying and political financing rules in the corruption-risk debate shaping the European Union's first strategy of this kind. With the Commission planning to adopt the strategy by the end of 2026, attention now turns to the Commission's draft and the extent to which it reflects Parliament's nonbinding priorities, including the reference to crypto assets, opaque ownership structures and digital tools.
