Security is a major concern for Europeans: the vast majority (77%) want the EU to do more to fight terrorism.

EU measures to prevent new attacks run from more thorough checks at Europe’s borders, to better police and judicial cooperation on tracing suspects and pursuing perpetrators, cutting the financing of terrorism, tackling organised crime, addressing radicalisation and others.

Improving EU border controls

In order to safeguard security within the Schengen zone, systematic checks at the EU's external borders on all people entering the EU - including EU citizens - were introduced in April 2017.

To record the movements of non-EU citizens across the Schengen area and speed up controls, a new entry and exit registration system was agreed by Parliament and EU ministers in November 2017 and should be operational from 2020.

Travellers from non-EU countries who do not require a visa to enter the EU will be screened through the ETIAS System (European Travel Information and Authorisation), which should be operational from 2021.



