The internet is "our most important battleground" against radicalisation, said European Commissioner for Interior Affairs, Dimitris Avramopoulos, as the EU Commission presented propositions to support Member States in preventing and countering violent radicalisation leading to terrorism.

Radicalisation, like terrorism, knows no borders. This was evident in the events leading up to the attacks in Paris and Brussels. ‘’That is why the European Commission is setting out a number of initiatives to support Member States in their efforts across several policy areas, from promoting inclusive education and common values, to tackling extremist propaganda online and radicalisation in prisons’’, the EU executive body said.

"The recent attack in Orlando perfectly demonstrated (that) the perpetrator was strongly radicalized on his own, purely by using the internet," Avramopoulos said at a press conference.

He said the EU Commission will in coming months propose measures to improve cooperation between countries, police agencies and industry and to counter terrorist propaganda.

The aim is to combat the spread of material inciting violence by working with the IT industry, create a database of "terrorist content" deleted from websites, help educate people to be more critical when reading information online and support the development of positive alternative narratives by civil society.

EU Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: “Recent terrorist attacks have shown how some young Europeans have fallen prey to an ideology of death and destruction, breaking away from their own families and friends and turning against their own societies. This calls for a determined response by society as a whole, to prevent radicalisation and strengthen the ties that bind us together. ‘’

The EU will also reinforce its security approach to this problem, with enhanced information sharing in security, border and migration databases and a strengthening of Europol and its European Counter-Terrorism centre.

Around 4,000 EU nationals are estimated to have joined terrorist organisations in countries experiencing conflict such as Syria and Iraq.

The majority of the terrorist suspects implicated in the recent terrorist attacks in the EU were European citizens, born and raised in European countries.