Abstract:
Transatlantic cooperation in the area of homeland security stepped up after 9/11. This article examines how the European Union and its member states responded to US demands in this domain. Three areas of US-EU negotiations are analyzed: the transfer of passenger data (PNR) to US authorities, the Container Security Initiative and the issue of machine-readable passports that include biometric data. In most of these domains, the United States managed to take advantage of institutional, intra-European divisions. Yet, a case can be made that there is also a genuine transatlantic convergence at work – as suggested by a comparative examination of the methods used within the frame of antiterrorism and the fight against illegal immigration