Counter-Terrorism Funding in the EU Budget

Abstract

Counter-terrorism (CT) spending by Western countries has increased over the past 15 years. Since 2001, United States (US) federal expenditure on homeland security has grown on average by $360 billion annually. While it is not possible to calculate total EU and Member State spending on CT with any precision, EU spending is estimated to have increased from €5.7 million in 2002 to €93.5 million in 2009. The 'Security and Citizenship' heading in the EU budget was slightly reduced, from €2 172 million in 2014 to €2 146.73 million in 2015. However, spending on CT, including EU funds and operational expenses for the functioning of the institutional framework, has increased.

Greater investment in CT may provide a response to the upsurge in terrorist threats. Increased spending, however, is not always followed by a reduced incidence of terrorism. The EU's increased efforts to develop a strategy to tackle terrorism and to improve the institutional framework must be seen alongside concerns that its approach to CT may amount to a 'paper tiger'. This is due to the lack of an overall framework for new measures to tackle terrorism and to poor coordination of the institutional framework.

A number of proposals are under discussion at EU level to further implement and strengthen EU strategy on CT. These include new rules on money-laundering, increased cooperation between the EU and its Member States, and a review of the existing tools for fighting terrorism.

Keywords: EU, Europe, European Union, budget, terrorism, security, democracy, NGO, civil society