Introduction — Beyond EU Counter-terrorism Cooperation: European Security, Terrorism and Intelligence

Abstract

In March 2012, three French soldiers and four Jewish members of the public were killed in a series of gun attacks in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France. The perpetrator of these terrorist attacks, Mohamed Merah, was eventually killed during an armed siege. The official investigation revealed that he had become radicalised while in prison and had also travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan (BBC News, 2012a). However, Islamist terrorism is not the only type of terrorism with which European countries have to contend. On 22 July 2011, Anders Breivik set off a car bomb in Oslo, which resulted in eight deaths. He subsequently carried out a mass shooting at a Labour Party youth camp on the island of Utøya, killing another 69 people, mostly teenagers. During his trial, he described his actions as ‘preventive attacks to defend the indigenous Norwegian people’ and accused the ruling Labour Party of turning Norway into what he called a ‘multiculturalist hell’ by allowing too many Muslim immigrants to enter the country (Guardian, 2012). Thus, and although some signs of ‘counter-terrorism fatigue’ are visible in Europe according to the European Union (EU) Counter-Terrorism Coordinator (Council of the European Union, 2009, p. 2), the threat of terrorist attacks in European countries can be viewed as significant, diverse and fast evolving, as notably confirmed by the annual EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Reports compiled by Europol (see Europol, 2011) and the regular updates and discussion papers relating to the EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy issued by the Counter-terrorism Coordinator (see Council of the European Union, 2011a–c, 2012). Against this