The challenge facing Europe on terrorism

IN A sobering interview in this paper today, Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol, makes clear that the Paris, Brussels and Nice attacks were not isolated tragedies but part of a pattern of Islamist terrorism that we will, unfortunately, see more of. Mr Wainwright points out that Islamic State has taken a “strategic decision” to send its followers into Europe to carry out attacks in an attempt to distract attention from territorial losses in Syria and Iraq. That is a danger to which British police and our intelligence agencies are already alert, but one which Mr Wainwright fears is now likely to increase and remain a threat for years to come.

Worryingly, he also warns that some IS followers are using fake Syrian passports in an attempt to arrive undetected, with a small but growing number posing as refugees. Some 200 specialist officers from Europol will respond by attempting to assist border guards in identifying potential terrorists among migrants arriving on the Greek islands.

Other Islamists are exploiting the “industrial scale” production of false documents by organised criminals to obtain European Union passports and move across the continent. This is obviously a problem for every European country but it is particularly an issue for EU states in the borderless Schengen zone — further confirmation that the scheme is incompatible with today’s security needs.

He also points out the threat from the weapons trade on the “dark web”, a problem about which Britain is already acutely conscious and must remain vigilant.

The imperative for the British Government should be to ensure that, once outside the EU, we retain access to the Schengen Information System, under which data is shared across Europe on potential criminals, and that the close co-operation between our security agencies and their European counterparts continues and, indeed, is strengthened. The Prime Minister can be expected to take this seriously. Terrorism is an issue common to us all.