RIYADH – A unanimous majority of European Union member states have moved toblock a new EU money-laundering blacklist that includes Saudi Arabia andseveral US territories, following a letter by Saudi Arabia’s King Salmanbin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The procedure to block the blacklist, which was originally adopted in linewith previously-agreed EU rules to prevent money laundering, was launchedon Thursday, according to Reuters.

The Financial Times has also reported that 27 of the EU’s total 28countries, led by the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, have pushedto block publication of the list.

A majority of 21 states is needed to veto the EU blacklisting regulation.

Individual EU states are expected to clarify their positions on the matterin a Friday meeting in the Belgian capital of Brussels. A formal decisionwill be made in the next two weeks.

Diplomatic sources said Riyadh and Washington have pressured the EU toscrap the list.

Saudi King Salman has reportedly written letters to all EU leadersappealing against the oil-rich kingdom’s blacklisting.

The listing “will damage its reputation on the one hand and it will createdifficulties in trade and investment flows between the Kingdom and theEuropean Union on the other,” the Saudi monarch wrote.