European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson officially warned EU law enforcement officials about possible terrorist attacks during the popular winter holidays in the United Europe. According to her, local intelligence services have information about impending extremist attacks in a number of large cities in the European Union. Johansson’s words had the effect of a bomb exploding in the region.
The European Commissioner’s statement was made on the sidelines of a meeting of the heads of the EU countries’ Interior Ministry in Brussels. The meeting, which takes place annually and is of a reporting nature, this time went beyond the banal summing up of the work of individual departments. Just before this event, on December 2, an Islamic radical attacked a group of tourists near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Then one person died and several were injured of varying degrees of severity. “The crime was committed against the backdrop of events in the Middle East, where Israel is conducting a special operation against Hamas extremists,” Johansson recalled in particular. “Unfortunately, anti-terrorist actions in this region often echo in the EU.”
Speaking about the threat of terrorist attacks in the United Europe, Ms. Commissioner emphasized that in this particular case we can talk about potential incidents on Catholic and Protestant Christmas, as well as New Year’s days. They say, according to operational data, radical forces may become more active in Belgium, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. There is a high probability of similar incidents in Austria, Italy and France.
“It should be especially noted that the interior ministers of the EU member states were forced to admit that the level of vigilance in Europe in the context of the fight against terrorism has decreased somewhat,” said European analyst Klaus Hoff in a commentary for EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. “To a certain extent, Johansson simply opened up to the public eyes on this. And the phrase “Be careful, holidays!” should not become a warning for the average person, but rather a call to action for law enforcement officers.” It’s hard to disagree with the last statement.
Meanwhile, it became known that the European Commission will allocate €30 million for additional security measures during these festive events.
