The Europol Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2008
The Hague - The Netherlands.
The second EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, TE-SAT 2008, produced by Europol was presented today in the European Parliament in Brussels by Director Max-Peter Ratzel.
Working in close cooperation with the member states and with partners at the EU level, Europol is in the unique position of being able to provide an overview of the situation regarding terrorism in the European Union from a law enforcement perspective. The TE-SAT is increasingly recognised as an important tool for decision makers on the European level.
The TE-SAT report collates all statistical data on the terrorist attacks and plots in the EU as well as providing details on the where, the whom and the how of terrorist activities. For TE-SAT 2008, member states have also reported on criminal acts committed by extremists. This has allowed for a better description of the European scope despite the disparities currently existing between member states with regard to the crime areas which are defined as terrorism or extremism respectively. Director Ratzel thanked the Member States as well as Eurojust for contributing data for this report.
In 2007, EU member states reported a 24 percent increase in the number of failed, foiled or successfully executed terrorist attacks and a 48 percent increase in suspects arrested for terrorism offences compared to 2006. The vast majority of the executed attacks caused material damage, but two law enforcement officials were killed in an attack related to separatist terrorism. Failed and foiled attacks related to Islamist terrorism continue to aim at causing the most havoc possible and indiscriminate mass casualties.
When presenting TE-SAT 2007, Ratzel said "Several member states report that the threat from Islamist terrorism has increased or remains high. The threat partly originates from an increasing level of command, control and inspiration on attacks in the EU from Pakistani based al-Qaeda linked groups and networks. In 2007, investigations showed EU-nationals who had attended training in Pakistan and later been involved in terrorist offences in the EU".
EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report TE-SAT 2008
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