21. BELGIUM – The issues explained above (see nos 1–10) arose in many states across the globe. The extent to which countries use criminal law and administrative law in the aforementioned ways varies. This PhD compares the legal systems of Belgium and the UK, using Belgium as the starting point for comparison. The UK was part of the EU until 2020, Belgium still is, and both are part of the Council of Europe. The same legal instruments thus bound them in their recent struggle against terrorism. Within the group of EU countries, Belgium is interesting because of its strong tradition of using criminal law and avoiding the use of administrative measures where possible. Belgium has implemented some administrative measures to prevent terrorism (e.g. asset freezing or the confiscation of passports) but has mainly used traditional criminal justice tools. It does not (yet) have any administrative counterterrorism measures that have a direct impact on the right to liberty or freedom of movement. A proposal to introduce electronic monitoring for suspected terrorists in Belgium was put forward in 2015 but appears to have been shelved.

22. THE UK – The UK has a large amount of experience with terrorism and is considered somewhat of an example in terms of counter-terrorism measures.79 The relevant EU instruments (see no. 2) have also been infl uenced by the UK legislation and its point of view on counter-terrorism.