The Schengen acquis and the EU's anti-terrorism strategy

Abstract

The EU perceived the attacks of 9/11 as a threat to European security and openly declared the fight against terrorism as a top priority. Although terrorism remains mainly the preoccupation of the Member States, the EU decided to stretch its counter terrorism instruments across its institutions by launching the EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2005. Compiled on four pillars, namely, ‘Prevent, Respond, Pursue, and Protect’, the EU seeks to fulfil its role through regulation, coordination and information sharing. However, recently, Europe has been the victim of numerous terrorist attacks which led academics to question the concept of the Schengen Acquis. The dissertation will use the qualitative research method to gather an in-depth collection of data. To gather such information, the author will use primary documents but mostly, secondary documents such as books, journals and online news articles. These sources are essential for the author to gain basic knowledge regarding the area of topic and to compose the chapters of the dissertation mainly, the Literature Review, the Case Study Analysis and the Comparative Analysis. By using the case study design, this dissertation analyses two terrorist attacks faced in the past by France and Belgium. The dissertation concludes that the lack of cooperation and mistrust between the Member States in sharing information lead to gaps that enable terrorists to stay undetected and hence move freely within the Schengen zone. Rather than abolishing the Schengen Acquis and re-establishing border control, the Schengen Acquis should be modified. It acts as an incentive for the Member States and the EU to improve their fight against terrorism.