From distant fear to the reality of facts. “There is a huge risk of an increase in the terrorist threat in the European Union due to the situation in the Middle East.” The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, the Swedish Ylva Johansson, spoke yesterday to a group of European newspapers and took stock of internal security since the beginning of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, “aware” that “it is the responsibility of the Member States carry out this type of risk assessment and it is up to them to decide whether they believe the threat level is higher or not.” Johansson recalled that since March the new Schengen information system has existed, which provides for “all reports relating to terrorism to be shared with Europol”.
However, regarding the possibility of terrorists arriving with illegal migrants, the commissioner is cautious: «Naturally, terrorists could arrive covered by the migratory flow, but in my opinion the biggest risk is that people already present here, radicalized, could commit attacks . At the moment we do not see large migratory flows due to the situation in the Middle East, but they could happen. This is why the new screening proposal contained in the new Migration Pact is so important. Carry out security screening for all people entering the EU directly. Then – concludes Johansson – there is another specific risk of radicalization of those who are already here, especially if people live illegally and are not part of society, like the terrorist who committed the attack in Brussels, who was never regular”.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
