Multilateral cooperation lies at the core of the EU’s approach. To this end, the EU works closely with the UN, with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (UN CTED) in particular.

The EU also works with the 40+ UN entities which make up the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact.

Since September 2022, the EU has co-chaired the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF). As a donor and member of their Governing Boards, the EU also contributes to the work of three institutions associated to the GCTF: Hedayah, the International Institute for Justice (IIJ), and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF).

The EU is also a non-military partner of the Global Coalition against Da’esh and engages actively with NATO, Interpol, the OSCE, and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). It does so in order to share experiences and best practices and to voice EU values in the global debate.

In recent years, the EU – led by the EEAS, with the close involvement of the EU Counter Terrorism Coordinator, the European Commission and the EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Agencies – has established Counter-Terrorism Dialogues with key partner countries and multilateral organisations.

Political outreach through these specific CT Dialogues is held with a range of countries and institutions, including the UN, Australia, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the US.

The EEAS manages the EU Counter Terrorism/Security Experts’ Network.

Established in 2015, the Network mirrors the geographic priorities of the EU’s external engagement on Counter-Terrorism (CT).

It currently comprises 20 Experts deployed in EU Delegations throughout the world. The Network is a key element of the EU’s CT Toolbox, as highlighted by the Strategic Compass.

The EU’s CT/Security Experts play a crucial role in liaising with host governments, regional organisations and civil society on behalf of the EU on the full range of EU CT and P/CVE activities with partner countries and organisations.

The EU is one of the world’s most important providers of counter-terrorism capacity building and programmes aimed at preventing violent extremism. Such activities include preventing radicalisation and recruitment, both in prisons and outside, as well as strengthening resilience of young people and communities against violent extremism, promoting reintegration in local communities, and fighting against the financing of terrorism and money laundering.

As of January 2023, there are approximately €559 million of investments in CT or P/CVE-specific projects ongoing in countries outside the EU.

• EU Common Security and Defence Policy missions. The new Civilian Common Security and Defence Programme (CSDP) compact, approved in May 2023, highlights that it should contribute to increasing civilian CSDP’s effectiveness through efforts to strengthen the EU’s capacity to act rapidly and robustly, to secure host countries and civilian CSDP missions, to invest in more and better capabilities, and to partner with host countries as well as third states and international organisations. CSDP missions contribute to the EU's wider response to tackle current, emerging and future security challenges, including those linked to organised crime, terrorism, radicalisation and violent extremism. This is most apparent in relation to those missions with an explicit counter-terrorism mandate (EUCAP Sahel Niger, EUCAP Sahel Mali, EUBAM Libya, EUAM Iraq, EULEX Kosovo and EUTM Mozambique), but also applies to other missions that contribute to the countering of terrorism and prevention of violent extremism leading to terrorism in various ways, for example through security sector reform (SSR).
• Countering the financing of terrorism is a key element of the EU’s overall counter-terrorism strategy. In order to build and implement international standards, the EU works with its partners in the Financial Action Taskforce FATF - the international standard-setter for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). To ensure the protection of the internal market, the EU has established a process to identify high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes. As a part of its broader counter-terrorism engagement with partners, the EU coordinates approaches to AML/CFT and works with partner countries to support their AML/CFT efforts.

• The use of traditional, online, and social media is a powerful instrument in the hands of terrorist groups all around the world. The efforts to oppose extremist narratives and undermine the appeal of its ideology are relentless. In that regard, the EU launched the EU Internet Forum in 2015 to provide a framework for an efficient cooperation with the internet industry in the future and to secure a commitment from the main actors to coordinate and scale up efforts in this area. The EU also supports efforts of the international community, including of the Global Coalition against Da’esh, the Christchurch Call and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), to counter terrorist content and hate speech online.

• The EU may also impose restrictive measures (sanctions) to target persons and groups involved in terrorist acts, including through asset freezes and travel bans. EU sanctions comply with obligations under international law, including international human rights and international humanitarian law. All efforts are made to avoid unintentional consequences of sanctions, on humanitarian activity for example.