In the post-9/11 world, global thinking on terrorism, and consequently the approach to counterterrorism, has evolved at a rapid pace. This is only to be expected, given that terrorism is not a new phenomenon. In Europe, attempts towards a cohesive “continental” approach rather than a single state-based, or bilateral run, can be traced back some decades ago, long before the creation of the European Union (EU) in 1993. At that time, along with rising Islamist terrorism initially related to the Palestinian struggle and the rise of groups such as Hamas, the more existential threats of terrorism in the continent came from within. Countries such as Spain battled Basque separatism led by the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (or the ETA), and the United Kingdom (UK) experienced the terror inflicted by the Irish Republican Army (or the IRA). Groups such as Al-Qaeda as we know today did not have the transnational capabilities during that period.
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