Greece is the top target in Europe for left wing or anarchist violence, according to the European Union counter-terrorism coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove.
European governments need to be more vigilant about emerging security threats such as left wing extremism or new incarnations of al Qaeda through better sharing of intelligence, de Kerchove said this week. In a report prepared for a meeting of European Union home affairs ministers in Brussels, de Kerchove warned that the economic crisis in Europe and the Arab Spring gave rise to new threats. Left wing violence was a particular concern at a time of fiscal austerity throughout Europe to counter mounting debt problems, he said.
“We now need to be alive to the possibility that adverse economic conditions within Europe itself could … start to produce conditions conducive to the spread of violent left-wing or anarchist ideologies,” Kerchove said in the report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters. Security experts see Greece as a top target in Europe for such violence, given its history of anarchist militancy, and the threat of extremist action in Europe linked to the economic situation. A spate of immigrant murders and the discovery of a neo-Nazi group in Germany has already focused attention on right wing extremism in Europe, as economic difficulties fuel protectionist attitudes and hostility to foreigners.
Kerchove said EU governments need to be more aware of the diversity of security threats and should improve how they pool intelligence from government and police sources, as well as information from the private sector, to identify risks.
Source: Reuters
