Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 03/6/2025; Author: Nerma Šehović
For several years now, a false claim has been circulating on social media that the European Union plans to introduce a centralized property register through which it will have insight into all citizens’ property and control over it.
On May 14, 2025, a “notice” was published on Facebook regarding a supposed property register that the European Union allegedly plans to introduce in 2027.
Planned for 2027: The EU wants our property!
The EU is planning a wealth register. In the future, Ms. von der Leyen wants to know if you have a stamp collection, significant wealth, stocks, a car, or valuable tools in your workshop.
By 2027 at the latest, the total assets of all EU citizens are to be centrally recorded. Anyone who fails to disclose all their assets can expect a fine of at least one million euros. Anyone professionally involved in finance could be fined at least ten million euros.
The EU wants to register all assets so they can be accessed if needed. And the need is currently acute – the EU is hopelessly in debt. Therefore, no one should own property that is not centrally registered in Brussels down to the last detail.
Similar claims have been shared on other Facebook profiles and pages in recent weeks (1, 2), and “announcements” of an EU property register have been circulating on social media since 2022. The oldest appearance of this claim was found in a post dated June 3, 2022. The conspiracy-themed web portal Epoha also wrote about this topic in June 2024, claiming such a register would be introduced by 2025.
What are the Facts?
The claim that the European Union plans to introduce a property register for all citizens has also circulated in foreign-language media. The Georgian fact-checking web portal Myth Detector wrote about it in an analysis published on July 30, 2024, as did various EU media outlets (1, 2, 3).
This claim is false. In 2021, at the request of the European Parliament, the European Commission issued a call for a feasibility study for a European wealth register aimed at combating money laundering and tax evasion. The explanation published on the European Parliament’s website clearly states that this study “does not prejudice any political initiatives by the European Commission”. Nevertheless, the commissioned study became the basis for spreading claims about a supposed plan to create a property register for all EU citizens.
The study was completed in 2024. It outlines what types of assets are relevant in the context of money laundering and tax evasion. Existing asset registers within EU member states were mapped, their possible shortcomings examined, and solutions proposed. The study presents several scenarios the EU could consider to combat money laundering and tax evasion, one of which is the creation of a centralized wealth register. However, the study itself notes that such a scenario would be technically difficult to implement and could potentially violate privacy and data protection rights.
In an article by the German web portal Fokus published on July 24, 2024, a spokesperson for the European Commission, Eric Mamer, was quoted explaining the purpose of the study and denying claims about a “planned” register:
“The European Commission has no intention of establishing a central database of EU citizens’ assets. It is true that, at the request of the European Parliament (!), the Commission is currently conducting a study on asset registration practices in EU member states. This review study merely maps the mechanisms in place in the 27 member states (a mapping study). The Commission itself does not plan any actions based on the results of this study”.
Tportal from Croatia also wrote in detail about this topic in an article published on May 14, 2025. Referring to the German web portal WirtschaftsWoche, the article states that there was an idea within the EU to potentially create a centralized register of assets worth more than 200,000 euros (thus, not for all citizens, but only for the wealthy) to more effectively combat money laundering. The idea was that the register would include not only real estate and stocks but also valuable assets such as cryptocurrencies, art, and similar items. However, the aforementioned study commissioned by the European Parliament concluded that such a register would be difficult to implement, expensive, and potentially legally problematic.
WirtschaftsWoche contacted the European Commission, which confirmed that it does not plan to create a centralized asset register. The same response was given to Myth Detector in 2024.
There are no concrete plans to introduce a centralized asset register for EU citizens. EU institutions have explicitly denied this on several occasions, and there is simply no evidence to support the claim that such a project is underway. It is also worth emphasizing that the claims stating individuals who do not report their assets will be fined one million euros are also false.
Therefore, the claim that the European Union plans to introduce a central asset register for all citizens is rated as disinformation and a conspiracy theory. The claim that citizens who fail to report their assets to this register will be fined one million euros is rated as fake news.
