Written by Alessia Cornella, Linda Zamengo, Alexandre Delepierre, Georges Clementz
Counter-terrorism action has been a significant national and European concern for years. Pivotal moments leading to a stronger focus on terrorism in the 2000s included the 2004 Madrid train bombings, killing 193 people and injuring more than 2,000, and the 2005 London bombings, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700. These terrorist attacks led the Council to adopt in 2005 the EU counter-terrorism strategy in order to “combat terrorism globally while respecting human rights, and make Europe safer” (Council of the European
Union, 2005).
The study proceeds as follows. The first section sheds light on the interoperability potential of the EU defence structures related to the fight against terrorism. The second section discusses the European responses to terrorism when the terrorist menace was at its peak in Europe. The third section focuses on border security technology, a crucial facet of EU counter-terrorism policy, linked with the notion of European interoperability. In the last section, the study takes stock of the current situation regarding jihadist terrorism before looking into new forms and sources of terrorist threats.
