No More Heated Debate, MEPs Approve the EU High-Risk AML List

Finally, the European Parliament has approved the European Commission’s latest update to the EU list of high-risk third countries.

The 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive empowers the European Commission to identify high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) regimes.

In April 2024, the European Parliament strongly opposed the Commission’s decision to remove Gibraltar and the UAE from the EU’s high-risk list. A total of 490 Members of European Parliament (MEPs) voted in favor of rejecting the removal, with only 64 against and 56 abstentions from the decision.

The UAE and Gibraltar were again removed from the EU high-risk list in June, 2025 by a decision of EU Commission. Parliamentarians objected to the Commission’s decision; however, it couldn’t receive the required number of votes to reverse it.

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Even though the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had already removed Gibraltar and the UAE from its grey list for their improved AML measures, a large number of MEPs still believed it was too early or not appropriate to remove them from the EU’s high-risk list.

In response to the debate over including Gibraltar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the EU’s high-risk list, the European Commission itself committed to reviewing the status of AML control in these countries.

The update highlights the inclusion of Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal, and Venezuela to the high-risk entities list. However, it removes Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal, Uganda, and the UAE.

The updated list aligns the EU more closely with the FATF grey list, which serves as a global benchmark for AML compliance. However, EU parliament adopted an other proposal that requires EU commission to review the jurisdictions which are not on FATF grey list but their membership has been suspended by it, for such as Russia. EU commission will conclude this review by 31st December 2025.

As the EU continues to revise its high-risk list in response to evolving global threats, financial institutions need to stay ahead of regulatory shifts.