The most well-known ISIS terrorist atrocities in Europe, including the 2015 Paris and 2016 Brussels attacks, saw individuals who in the past had been involved in organised crime and illegal trade graduate to the ranks of the world’s most successful terrorist organisation. It is now widely assumed that Europe’s terrorists are no longer radicals first and foremost but criminals who turned to political violence at some stage throughout their ordinary crime careers. Thus, the threat emanating from the “crime-terror nexus” hangs over Europe.

GLOBSEC, an independent, non-partisan, nongovernmental organisation that aims to shape the global debate on foreign and security policy, responded to this threat by developing, with funding from the first round of the PMI Impact initiative, a research and advocacy project aimed at addressing the “crime-terror nexus” in Europe.