Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Terror threat more serious than ever, says Europol

  • Brussels is keen to extend Europol's mandate (Photo: Antje Wildgrube)

The European law enforcement organisation, Europol, has come out with its first report on the terrorism situation in the EU saying that although it is not a new phenomenon in Europe, the threat to member states is more serious than ever.

The report – which gives an overview of terrorism activities in the EU's 27member states – was presented to the European Parliament on Tuesday (10 April) where EU officials debated proposals for boosting the powers of the bloc's law enforcement arm to enhance police cooperation in fighting cross-border crime and terrorism.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

According to the report, 706 individuals were arrested in 15 member states on suspicion of terrorism offences in 2006, half of those arrests involved threats from Islamic extremists.

Almost 500 terrorist attacks were reportedly carried out in 11 member states last year with separatists and nationalists in the Basque region of Spain and on the French island of Corsica responsible for most of the attacks.

Only one terrorist attack in 2006 was registered as having to do with Islamic extremism, according to the report.

"Terrorism is not a new phenomenon in the EU. Nevertheless, in the twenty-first century, the threat posed by terrorism to member states is more serious than ever," the organisation said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statistics sound more serious that the reality, said head of Europol Max-Peter Ratzel, according to Danish Daily Berlingske Tidende.

"Most of the attacks by far resulted in limited material damage and did not have the aim to kill. But the failed attacks in Germany and London showed that Islamic terrorists aim for many victims," he added.

Intelligence police in Germany and the UK arrested persons allegedly planning to blow up trains and transatlantic air carriers respectively in July and August last year.

There was one terrorist attack with a fatal outcome in 2006. Basque separatist group ETA bombed a parking lot at the Madrid airport on 30 December killing two men.

Europol was set up in 1994 to combat serious international crime and terrorism across the bloc.

Brussels is keen to extend the agency's mandate to criminal issues that are not strictly related to organised crime and give the organisation greater access to various data on people under investigation, prompting concerns that privacy protection laws could be violated.

"These proposals give Europol a carte blanche to collect whatever information it wants, regardless of its relevance," said UK conservative MEP Syed Kammal in a statement.

Mr Ratzel countered that the kind of data sought by Europol would not threaten privacy.

"We do not, for example, seek such information as data on consumers from supermarkets," he said, according to the Associated Press.

But he said EU member countries should give greater access to personal data for fighting crimes such as child pornography, serial killings or violence at sporting events, which often have a cross-border element.

Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access

70 percent of northern Gaza is facing famine, new data shows. There is one shower per 5,500 people, and 888 people per toilet. 'How can you live in these conditions?" asked Natalie Boucly of UNRWA at the European Humanitarian Forum.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us