The European Union Approach to Terrorism: The Case of Civil Aviation Security

Civil aviation has been a target of terrorism since the development of the aviation sector itself but the attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) were paradigmatic and their magnitude placed civil aviation security to the top of the political agenda. The European framework existing at the time of these attacks revealed that aviation security issues were left to each individual Member State’s responsibility. Realising the importance of coordinated and common policies for aviation security given the transnational nature of terrorism, the EU started to expand its regulatory framework on aviation security. This paper aims to analyse the progress attained in the EU regulatory framework and the challenges of this Europeanization of security for both the EU and the Member States, bearing in mind the institutions involved, the security narratives, and the technological developments (i.e. biometrics and databases).