Perspectives on Federalism is a free on-line peer-reviewed journal, promoted by the Centre for Studies on Federalism.

This paper assesses European cooperation in counter-terrorism, which was prompted by the terrorist attacks at the beginning of this century. The first part of the paper will provide a description of the main features of the European counter-terrorism policy together with the most important achievements attained in this field. Attention is then focused on the combat against terrorist financing; in particular on the implementation within the European Union of the regime of targeted financial sanctions adopted by the United Nations Security Council. The transposition of these measures within the EU uncovered the shortcomings regarding the institutional structure of the European Union during the pre-Lisbon period and the problems ensuing from the UN regime of financial sanctions, most namely as regards fundamental rights. Finally, the article evaluates the enhancements introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon and the future challenges in this field