The International Fight Against Terrorism

This book is the record of a colloquium, organized by two academic centers on both sides of the Atlantic (Dean Rusk Center, School of Law, University of Georgia and Centre for European Law, Faculty of Law and Criminology, Vrije Universiteit, Brussels). The colloquium brought together experts from the European Union and the United States, both inside and outside of government. The purpose of the colloquium was to assess the achievements of the common actions undertaken by the European Union and the United States in their fight against terrorism, and to explore prospects for further cooperation. Three themes were discussed during the colloquium. The first theme concerned the common achievements and the common challenges still facing the West. The second theme of the colloquium focused on the manner and extent of the use of personal data in the international fight against terrorism. The conflict between freedom of the individual, on the one hand, and measures taken by governments in order to protect civil society, on the other hand, stood at the center of the closing part of the colloquium. The colloquium sought to encourage the exchange of views between transatlantic experts in the field. Cooperation between the European Union and the United States in their fight against terrorism is vital to the security of both. Despite severe tensions over methods and ways of dealing with common threats, the effort to build such cooperation is widely regarded as a success story of the transatlantic partnership. Several agreements between the European Union and the United States witness this success. However, transatlantic cooperation in the fight against terrorism requires a continuous critical dialogue, aimed at achieving common solutions. Foreword by Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission in Charge of Justice, Freedom and Security CONTRIBUTORS: Telmo Baltazar, Gijs de Vries, Jonathan Faull, Jane Horvath, Asa Hutchinson, Sophie in het Veld, Donald Johnson, Tony Joris, Stavros Lambrinidis, Leslie Lebl, Baroness Sarah Ludford, Mark Richard, Paul Rosenzweig, Stefaan Verhulst, Gabriel Wilner.