European Union customs authority? Ex-border chief calls for body to control ALL EU nations
EUROPE needs an “FBI for customs” to protect the EU’s common border, according to the outgoing chief of Europe’s anti-fraud agency OLAF.
Customs officers check vehicles at the border between France and Belgium
Giovanni Kessler, who recently left Brussels to head up the Italian customs agency, said different enforcement across different EU countries had created loopholes and “perverse incentives” to make fraud and smuggling easier.
And he warned Brussels was losing billions in revenue as a result of the disjointed approach.
Mr Kessler: “We have 28 customs agencies for goods and 28 border guard agencies for people, so 56 agencies for one border.
Sniffer dogs check goods at the French border
My vision is that we have to go further and fully implement the customs union by establishing a European customs authority
“My vision is that we have to go further and fully implement the customs union by establishing a European customs authority.”
Customs authorities in the 28 member states are responsible for tackling fraud — especially in cases that could deprive both the EU and national governments of tax revenues.
They handle more than two billion tons of goods a year but different standards in how countries enforce controls has led to significant losses for both the EU and member countries.
The former EU anti-fraud chief has called for a harmonised customs authority
Mr Kessler said the whole customs system had to be overhauled if Europe wanted to clamp down effectively on smuggling and tax fraud.
He said: “When a good enters a country, after a few hours it’s all over Europe but it is controlled according to that country’s standard, relying on the IT system of that country, which is different from the IT systems of all other 27 countries.”
He said if Europe has one border and common duties on goods coming in from outside it should also have a federal customs operation to ensure “consistency in the quality and quantity of controls while also avoiding potentially dangerous and surreptitious competition among member states”.
Mr Kessler said “dangerous competition” was a race to the bottom among competing EU countries aiming to attract more traffic to their ports by establishing a reputation for less intrusive customs authorities.