The EU wants a common approach to the confiscation and recovery of assets that criminals have worked hard to acquire. EuroparlTV investigates in France and Belgium.

Reporter: Hitting criminals where it hurts

Free movement of goods and people,  also of criminals.

The EU would like to harmonise  the confiscation of proceeds of crime.

EuroparlTV investigated  in Belgium and France.

During a raid, this Belgian Federal Police  dog found more than €25,000

which belongs to a drug dealer  in Antwerp.

In my opinion,  a suspect would rather be penalised

than have their money  or other property confiscated.

Also depending on the size  of the criminal organisation,

the amount of seized assets can be  considerable, like real estate and such,

and they will try hard  to recover that.

Hitting criminals in the wallet  is the best way to fight them.

In this case, the suspect on the run  shouldn't get their money back.

For the Belgian state to be able  to confiscate and so own this money,

the drug dealer will first  have to be convicted.

Antwerp is a European hub for criminals.

Commissioner Maes and his team  seize dozens of cars every year.

The majority are powerful saloons  or sports cars.

I'll see if I can get the keys,  but it concerns a fiscal fraud case...

If the owner is a pain and refuses  to give us the keys, it will be difficult.

But the intention is to sell it as quickly  as possible before it loses any of its value.

If getting a conviction takes too long,  the car will no longer have any value,

like this Porsche from the 90s  that can't be sold.

Following money and goods past Belgium's  borders is one of the greatest difficulties.

Whenever I talk to my contacts abroad  about a confiscation,

The police in those countries all think alike.

They agree that it is criminal property  and that it must be confiscated.

The magistrates, the Public Prosecutor's  Office, in each country,

The only obstacle,  if I can use that word,

is the different legislation  in each country.

The EU could solve  a part of the problem.

is fighting to harmonise  the confiscation of criminal goods.

Ideally we'd confiscate all the property that's  been proven to come from criminal activity,

which is under the control of the person  but not necessarily in their name.

who was sentenced  at the Court of Appeal in Paris.

The court ruled that one of these properties  be confiscated.

It's a room in which he put the prostitutes  under his control. It was human trafficking.

We're in Paris. Since 2010, the law  has allowed the French legal system

A special agency was created to manage  the seized and confiscated criminal assets.

Magistrates, police and customs officers  work together in the same team.

Do drug dealers appeal more because of  the seized goods than prison sentences?

It does them a lot more damage, and  that's the aim, to 'hit them where it hurts'.

Taking their assets hurts them more  than sending them to prison.

We see that especially with cars,  because they cost a lot of money,

but even more so with real estate, because  when confiscating and selling real estate

we know it's for a criminal's life's work.

If they've a nice property but no income,  they've committed crimes over many years.

Monica Macovei would like to go  even beyond extended confiscation.

She'd like confiscations without convictions,  without prison sentences.

Assets would just be sold  to the profit of the state.

Even if we put people behind bars,  the money is out there

and it continues to produce  networks of organised crime

or it returns to the licit economy through  money laundering or it funds terrorism.

But for the director of the Belgian Central  Office for Seizure and Confiscation,

this EU law wouldn't be appropriate  for all Member States.

Our legal system doesn't  provide for this approach.

Italy is a pioneer. In April 2013 alone  it confiscated €1.3 billion from crime.

That's more than double  than in France in a year.

The majority of the money  was reinvested in social projects.

However, criminals still have a head start:  they can move freely.

The legal system  is often limited to its own borders.