by Tyler Durden
Hot on the heels of China gold import restrictions, and India’s demonetization and gold confiscations, The European Commission proposed tightening controls on cash and precious metals transfers from outside the EU under the guise of shutting down one route for funding of militant attacks on the continent, following the Berlin Christmas attack.
China has already begun de facto gold import restrictions, and as Jayant Bhandari detailed previously, India is experiencing a continuation of new social engineering notifications, each sabotaging wealth-creation, confiscating people’s wealth, and tyrannizing those who refuse to be a part of the herd, in the process destroying the very backbone of the economy and civilization. There are clear signs that in a very convoluted way, possession of gold for investment purposes will be made illegal. Expect capital controls to follow.
And now, as Reuters reports, it appears last Monday’s attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, where 12 people were killed as a truck ploughed into a crowd, has given The European Commission just the excuse to tighten capital controls – specifically cash and precious metals – into and out of Europe.
It is part of an EU “action plan against terrorist financing” unveiled after the bombings and shootings in Paris in November 2015.
Under the new proposals, customs officials in European Union states can step up checks on cash and prepaid payment cards sent by post or in freight shipments.
Authorities will also be able to seize cash or precious metals carried by suspect individuals entering the EU.
People carrying more than 10,000 euros (8,413.56 pounds) in cash already have to declare this at customs when entering the EU. The new rules would allow authorities to seize money below that threshold “where there are suspicions of criminal activity,” the EU executive commission said in a note.
EU officials said some of the recent attacks in Europe were carried out with limited funds, sometimes sent from outside the EU by criminal networks.
The Commission is also considering whether to set up an EU-focussed “terrorist finance tracking programme” along the lines of the U.S.-EU TFTP, which has long been opposed by EU lawmakers and privacy campaigners because it allows widespread checks on consumers’ bank transfers.
The plan complements Commission proposals after the Paris attacks to tighten controls on virtual currencies such as bitcoin, and prepaid cards, which French authorities said were used to fund the bombings.
EU states backed these proposals on Tuesday. Under the deal, which still needs European Parliament approval, holders of prepaid cards would have to show some form of identity when they make payments of 150 euros or more.
But it gets better…
The Commission is also proposing common rules for the 28 EU countries on freezing “terrorists’ financial resources” and on confiscating assets even from those thought to be connected to criminals.
So – cash, bitcoin, precious metals, and prepaid cards over $150 are all instruments of the “terrorists” and are now open to confiscation if you are a suspicious person… which, by their rhetoric, you are if you actually hold any of these assets.
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