CCCJ Seminar: 'Is Europe 'Unprepared'? EU Counter-terrorism Policies to Address Foreign Fighters and Returnees'

Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice (CCCJ) Seminar Series

Speaker: Dr. Francesca Galli, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Maastricht
Location: G24, Faculty of Law

Abstract: EU governments have created a complex framework to cooperate in the fight against terrorism. This includes the adoption of a counter-terrorism strategy in 2005, which aims at ensuring the even and cohesive implementation of counter-terrorism policy (rather than a crisisdriven response), and the appointment of a “counter-terrorism coordinator”. Yet a common refrain after the most recent attacks was “Europe is still unprepared”. This paper asks whether Europe is really unprepared–from a policy perspective–and, if so, what could be done to address this issue. The main challenge in managing the risk of further terrorist attacks is reconciling: (i) prevention and repression means of combatting terrorism; and (ii) soft law measures aimed at deradicalisation, together with general administrative and criminal law rules. A new, reconciled approach is enshrined in the UN SC RES 2178; will the EU follow the same path in the end?

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