ABSTRACT
Today, thousands of European Union Member States’ citizens and residents are in Iraq or Syria fighting with different insurgent groups, some of which are classified as international terrorist organizations. Although European foreign fighters are not a new phenomenon, some of these individuals have been directly or indirectly involved in the commission of acts of terrorism in European countries, bearing in mind that some of those responsible for the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and Brussels in March 2016 would have fought or received training at the Syrian front. Resolution 2178 (2014) of the Security Council describes this group of individuals as ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ and recommends that states develop a series of measures to address this threat. This chapter will address the evolution of foreign fighters of European origin, how they came to be terrorists in recent years and how they pose a threat to international security and, in particular, to European security. It will also examine the countermeasures developed by the EU and its Member States and, finally, the need to concentrate on developing means to prevent terrorist attacks, radicalization and the rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees.
