France calls on EU to fight terror financing

French finance minister Michel Sapin has urged the European Union to quickly put into effect measures aimed at curbing the financing of extremist groups. “We need to take action now,” Mr Sapin said Friday.

“We cannot wait for the end of the year to adopt measures that will enable us to fight the financing of terrorism effectively.” The EU unveiled last week a plan aiming at tracking extremists as they move money or assets and limiting their ability to raise funds by targeting their sources of income.

Mr Sapin recalled that France has pushed for adoption of such measures since the January 2015 attacks on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris.

Meanwhile, local French government authorities said Friday they want to move up to 1,000 migrants living in the notorious “Jungle” camp in the port town of Calais. The government’s local representative, Fabienne Buccio, said: “The time has come to move on, no one must live in the southern part of the camp, everyone must leave this section.”

She estimated that between 800 and 1,000 migrants would be affected. Buccio said government representatives would visit migrant communities on Monday “to explain” the plans.