Radicalism and the EU counter terrorism policy

Abstract

The rise of radicalism in Europe and the EU's counter-terrorism policy, which has been frequently criticised as inadequate, are currently important issues on the EU's agenda. This documentary analysis is aimed at tackling such issues by providing a qualitative research. Whilst radicalism has been developing for a number of years and because of different reasons, it has recently been Islamic radicalism that is rising and posing a threat to European societies by being at the root of numerous terrorist attacks. As a result, the EU has been developing its counter-terrorism policy to try and tackle these situations. However, despite being successful in certain areas, problems still persist within its policy, as can be proven by recent events such as the attacks of November 2015 in Paris, France. These problems mainly relate to the lack of implementation by the member states which causes various delays as well as disuse of counter-terrorism tools. Nevertheless, progress within the EU's counter-terrorism policy is generally achieved in the aftermath of serious terrorist attacks.