EU Counter-Terrorism and Radicalization Measures in Morocco and Tunisia in the Framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy

The European Union and its Member States, especially those overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, have always had strong relations with the countries of North Africa but, starting from the new millennium, security and counter-terrorism have represented an area of great concern that has become increasingly important in terms of policies to be set with respect to this region. The chapter intends to present the strengthened dialogue and cooperation in the area of security between the EU on the one hand, and Morocco and Tunisia, on the other one, as framed in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Indeed, the latter represents the evolutive framework for the adoption of legal instruments based on the EU internal security strategy and external relations law for countering terroristic activities and radicalism. The novelties introduced by the Lisbon Treaty have then allowed to manage the EU cooperation strategy in the security sector on the basis of soft and hard law mechanisms resulting in a sort of ‘cross-pillarization’ of anti-terrorism objectives aimed at improving security from multiple and combined perspectives.