The joint European Union and Council of Europe Action against economic crime in Montenegro shared in Podgorica and before the relevant stakeholders in Montenegro, the Council of Europe’s methodology produced by the Economic Crime and Co-operation Division for the assessment of terrorist financing (TF) risks through the non-profit organisations (NPO) sector.

The event, convened in co-operation with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Montenegro, was attended by all relevant public institutions, as well as by representatives of civil society organisations and other stakeholders. The Head of the Financial Intelligence opened the event to present the current state of the NPO sector in Montenegro and its TF risks.

Once the main features of the methodology had been presented to the wider audience, the action shared in a workshop the details of the risk assessment methodology with the institution that will be undertaking the assessment in Montenegro. An international Council of Europe expert worked with the Montenegrin practitioners on matters such as the use of the questionnaires and matrices for collection of the necessary data, and the use of such information to perform an assessment of threats and vulnerabilities, calculate risks, and to identify risk levels.

The possible unintended consequences of the assessment, as, well as co-operation with NPOs in performing the assessment and for the application of the risk-based approach were also discussed.

The assessment of terrorist financing through the NPO sector in Montenegro follows the regional assessment already produced under the regional Action against economic crime in South-East Europe and it mirrors similar efforts, in other countries, such as Bulgaria, making use of the Council of Europe ad hoc methodology.

This event was organised within the framework of the Action against economic crime in Montenegro, which is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019 – 2022”.