The political-legal nexus in EU counter-terrorism: an assessment of the two-track influences between the EU and the UN

ABSTRACT

In the construction of the European Union's (EU's) counter-terrorism legal system, United Nations instruments and principles enter in the EU law sphere and pave the way for further developments both due to its legal force and to its role as agents of socialisation of security norms. At the same time, as this article demonstrates, the principles of EU constitutionalism, fundamental pillars in the EU's legal system, have been the sources of judicial decisions that ultimately impacted on the standards of fundamental rights protection in the UN framework. This article investigates the mutual influences between the EU and the UN in the field of counter-terrorism. It argues that although the impact of UN norms on EU counter-terrorism policies is more significant than the opposite, the EU has also revealed capacity to influence the UN in certain counter-terrorism procedures. Considering the sensitivity of counter-terrorism and EU's characteristics as an external security actor, the findings of the research conducted here can be seen as counter-intuitive, enabling new discussions on the EU's security actorness.

KEYWORDS:

• European Union
• United Nations
• counter-terrorism
• Kadi
• constitutionalism
• norm diffusion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Resolution adopted the Assembly General, The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, 60/288, 20 September 2006.

2. Council of the European Union, EU Counter-terrorism Strategy, 14469/4/05 REV 4, 30 November 2005.

3. European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism. Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 27 January 1977.

4. European Parliament Recommendation on the Role of the European Union in Combating Terrorism, U.N. Doc. A5-0273/2001 of 5 September 2001, 2002 O. J. (C 72) 135, 135–141.

5. Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 21 September 2005 – Yusuf and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council and Commission (Case T-306/01).

6. Joined Cases C-402/05 P and C-415/05 P Yassin Abdullah Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities.

7. Opinion of Mr Advocate General Poiares Maduro delivered on 16 January 2008. Yassin Abdullah Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities, Joined cases C-402/05 P and C-415/05 P. European Court reports 2008 Page I-006351.

8. Case T-85/09, Yassin Abdullah Kadi v European Commission.

9. Interview, Florence, 24 April 2012.

10. Interview, Brussels, 20 May 2010.

11. Interview, Aarhus, 25 March 2012.

12. Interview, Copenhagen, 26 April 2012.

13. Letter dated 11 May 2009 from the Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and associated individuals and entities addressed to the President of the Security Council. Available at http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2009/245

14. Letter dated 13 April 2011 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and associated individuals and entities addressed to the President of the Security Council. Available at: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2011/245

Additional information

Funding

The author would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (ref. SFRH/BD/66363/2009) in the research for this article.