PREVENT: to prevent people turning to terrorism by tackling the factors or root causes which can lead to radicalisation and recruitment, in Europe and internationally;
PROTECT : to protect citizens and infrastructure and reduce our vulnerability to attack, including through improved security of borders, transport and critical infrastructure;
PURSUE : to pursue and investigate terrorists across our borders and globally; to impede planning, travel, and communications; to disrupt support networks; to cut off funding and access to attack materials, and bring terrorists to justice; and
RESPOND : to prepare ourselves, in a spirit of solidarity, to manage and minimise the consequences of a terrorist attack, by improving capabilities to deal with: the aftermath; the co-ordination of the response; and the needs of victims.
The EU’s strategy is comprehensive, covering a wide range of measures. These aim at increasing co-operation in fields ranging from intelligence sharing to law enforcement and the control of financial assets in order to make it easier to find, detain and bring to justice terror suspects. Furthermore, the criminal law of the 27 Member States is being aligned so that terrorism is prosecuted and punished in the same manner throughout the EU.
The strategy sets out how the EU adds value over and above the work done by Member States domestically, and sets out clear governance arrangements involving the three EU Institutions (Council, Commission, Parliament ) working closely together, and the role of the Counter-Terrorism Coordinator in following up and monitoring progress.
The implementation of the strategy is closely monitored. Latest achievements, ongoing activities and measures can be found in the regular Report on the EU action plan on combating terrorism.
The fight against terrorism features also prominently in the Stockholm Programme and the Internal Security Strategy.