Terrorism represents “a real and present danger” in the European Union (EU), especially jihadist and right-wing terrorism, but also that linked to foreign fighters attracted by the war in Ukraine, Europol warned on Wednesday.
Although the work to stop and prevent the attacks “seems to have a positive effect, isolated actors linked to the violent extreme right and jihadism continue to be a cause for concern,” admitted the director of Europol, Catherine de Bole, quoted by the agency Spanish news Efe.
The European Police Coordination Agency presented its annual report on the trends and situation of terrorism in the EU, which provides a updated overview based on data from European countries on assaults, arrests and sentences handed down for this crime.
According to the official, terrorism still represents a danger in the EU, where 388 arrests of suspects last year.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine “will have a lasting impact on security” of the EU, he said, noting that the war “has already attracted several radicalized people” who have joined the fight on both sides, and the situation is likely to “trigger violent extremist reactions and mobilizations”, especially on the Internet. .
For this reason, Catherine de Bole believes that these cases should be followed up based on “the lessons learned in the past when dealing with foreign fighters who have returned from the battlefields in the Middle East.”
The released report analyzes jihadist, right-wing, left-wing and anarchist, ethnic and nationalist or separatist terrorism, among other types.
According to the data, more than two-thirds (260) of the total suspects arrested last year were charged with jihadism in Austria, France and Spain, with 362 people convicted.
Europol adds that they have also been 15 terrorist attacks or attempts registered in the EU during 2021a figure “significantly lower” than the previous year, when 57 completed, failed or foiled attacks were recorded.
This decrease is explained by Europol with the drastic reduction in attacks called “leftist terrorism”.
France was the country with the most terrorist incidentsfive in total, followed by Germany (3) and Sweden (2), while Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Belgium and Spain each reported one attack.
Four of the attacks were carried out, reports Europol, describing that three were jihadist attacks (which left one dead in Spain and another in France) and one was a radical left-wing terrorist attack in Germany, the only one of that ideology registered in 2021. in the EU, compared to 25 in 2020 and 26 in 2019.
As for the profiles lone actors remain the main perpetrators in Europe, with terrorists using, above all, weapons that are “relatively easy to obtain and do not require great skills to assemble or use,” underlines Europol, pointing to the use of bladed weapons, cars in collision attacks and improvised incendiary devices.
The restrictions to contain the Covid-19 force to spend more time online, which is a “risk factor” for vulnerable people to radicalization, warns the European police agency, which detected that the propaganda spread on the internet last year was mainly related to the pandemic.
According to the director of the agency, “social isolation and the increase in connection time have heightened the risks of violent extremist propaganda and terrorist content, especially among young people and minors”, so the social impact of the pandemic is presented “at long term”. challenges”. term that arises” from this unprecedented crisis.
On the other hand, geopolitical developments in “key regions” outside the EU have influenced the terrorist narratives and propaganda spread in European countries, but the current terrorist threat “does not seem to have been directly affected by the takeover of Afghanistan by the of the Taliban”.
Still, the agency warned, this event drew global attention to religiously motivated insurgencies and provided jihadists affiliated with groups such as al-Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State “opportunities to advance their own narratives.”
Source: Observadora
