The New EU Counter-Terrorism Offences and the Complementary Mechanism of Controlling Terrorist Financing as Challenges for the Rule of Law

This study analyses the modern EU counter-terrorism trends, focusing on two parallel axes: (a) the repressive one, where new criminal offences related to terrorist activity (receiving training for terrorism, terrorist financing, travelling and facilitating travelling for the purpose of terrorism) have been instituted, and (b) the preventive one, where establishing a framework of provisions aiming to deter terrorist financing prevails. After critically evaluating EU's interventions in both axes, the study concludes by noting a ‘paradigm shift’ between repression and prevention in the field of countering terrorism, while suggesting proposals on a transposition of Directive (EU) 2017/541 into national legislations that adheres to the fundamental EU law principles, and a preventive control over terrorist financing that abides by the rule of law.