Counter-terrorism Cooperation with the Southern Neighbourhood

Please note: Each In-Depth Analysis is assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), which is a safe and long term way of ensuring a hyperlink to the full text of this report. However, when ESO creates this record, on occasion the DOI still has not been activated by the EU Bookshop. If you find the source url hyperlink does not work please use the alternative location hyperlink listed as a related url.Since the EU adopted its Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2005, it has focused on forging closer ties with third countries in the fight against terrorism. Cooperation with the Southern Neighbourhood in this field is particularly important. Every single country within this region is affected by terrorism to different degrees and terrorist attacks on European soil are increasingly linked with the Middle East and North Africa.

The EU adopted a wide-ranging counter-terrorism approach in the South including actions that go beyond the strictly military and security interpretations of counter-terrorism. In line with the UN’s 4-pillar approach, the EU’s counter-terrorism measures can be broadly subdivided into four fields:

(i) building state capacity (particularly in the areas of border control, criminal investigation and prosecution, and countering the financing of terrorism);
ii) strengthening the rule of law and respect for human rights;
(iii) fostering regional cooperation; and
(iv) preventing and combating terrorism.

This study outlines and contextualises current counter-terrorism activities in the region.

• Primary Source

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: In-Depth Analysis, February 2017: Counter-terrorism Cooperation with the Southern Neighbourhood http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2017/578013/EXPO_IDA(2017)578013_EN.pdf

European Parliament: Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union: Publications available via the EU Bookshop http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/directorate-general-for-internal-policies-of-the-union-cbf.cKABstF7wAAAEjwYYY4e5K/

---