Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.

France: Europe Should Step Up Fight Against  Financial Networks
----------------------------------------------------------------
Bankrolling Terror
------------------

(http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=F27052:3919ACA

But US Undersecretary Levey says there are UN resolutions in place to
combat financing of terrorism and weapons proliferation, and European
countries simply need to follow them





U.S. Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence
Stuart Levey gestures during a press briefing at the American embassy
in Paris, Monday, Sept. 26, 2005A senior U.S. treasury official said
Monday Europe should step up the fight against  financial networks
that bankroll terrorism and weapons proliferation.  Stuart Levey,
Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes is delivering this
message to three countries on his European tour.   Lisa Bryant has
more from Paris.

Undersecretary Levey says there are U.N. resolutions in place to
combat financing of terrorism and weapons proliferation, and European
countries simply need to follow them. As an example, he points to
updated U.N. resolution 1617, which deals with cracking down on
financial networks bankrolling al-Qaida, and the Taleban in
Afghanistan.

"This provides us with a real opportunity to use our financial tools
as best we can," Mr. Levey says. "This is a tool which is very well
defined in what it requires. It requires countries to freeze without
delay the assets of individuals who are affiliated with al-Qaida and
the Taleban. For a number of reasons, this has not been aggressively
pursued."

Mr. Levey spoke to reporters in Paris, his first leg of a European
trip that also includes stops in Italy and Austria.

Terrorist bombings on public transport systems in Spain in March 2004
and in Britain last summer has claimed almost 250 lives and injured
hundreds more.

Mr. Leveys visit here coincided with the arrests of nine suspected
Islamist extremists outside Paris Monday morning.  Those arrested are
reportedly members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a
radical Algerian organization. Police suspect they were planning a
terrorist attack in France.

Their arrest is one of dozens against suspected extremists in France
and other European countries this year.

While countries like Britain, Italy and France are toughening their
antiterrorism laws, the EU is having a hard time passing European-wide
antiterrorism legislation. Undersecretary Levey called the EU process,
which calls for consensus, cumbersome.

"That's a process that needs to be streamlined and energized," Mr.
Levey says. "I think Europeans agree with me that has not been
particularly successful and needs to be improved upon."

Even agreeing what is a terrorist organization can be problematic.
Washington, for example, believes one charity operating in France is a
front for Hamas. France, however, disagrees.