Terrorism Has No Religion, Says EU

Following the terror attacks in Norway by a Norwegian terrorist last week, the current Polish EU presidency convened a joint meeting in Brussels Thursday of the two EU working groups on terrorism.

Representatives of the Norwegian authorities informed the meeting about the terrorist attacks and the ongoing investigation, noted an EU statement.

This was followed by a debate, which included experts from EU member states, representatives of several EU bodies and institutions, including Europol and office of the EU Counterterrorism coordinator.

The goal was to exchange information and analysis and to start the process of drawing the lessons of the terrorism attack in order to better prevent and respond to such attacks in the future, said the statement.

“It was noted that, as the Oslo attacks have shown once again, terrorism has nothing to do with any particular religion or belief. The EU and its member states have always rejected violence regardless of the motivation – be it right wing or left wing extremist, separatist or religiously motivated terrorism,” it added.

At the meeting, particular attention was given to the processes of radicalization and recruitment, which usually depend on a variety of factors independent of the cause, which any terrorist seeks to promote, whether the ideology of Al Qaeda, the far right or any other extreme ideology.

The issue of ‘lone-wolf terrorism’, represented by terrorists that are self-radicalised (e.g. through the internet) with no obvious attachment to any terrorist organisation, seems to require increasing attention, it said.

The experts also agreed that in confronting the threat of a terrorist attack, regardless of its underlying motivation, the effective exchange of information is vital, concluded the statement.