Europol’s annual EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) provides an overview of the terrorism phenomenon in the EU in a given year.
The fight against terrorism is a top priority for the EU and for Europol, and that means that TE-SAT is one of Europol’s most significant pieces of strategic analysis.
It offers law enforcement officials, policymakers and the general public facts and figures on terrorism in the EU, while also identifying developing trends in this crime area, based on information that Member States make available to Europol.
The report, which Europol has produced each year since 2007, charts the established and evolving drivers of terrorism. These drivers can:
- change or vanish over time in response to political or socio-economic developments
- merge with other ideologies or convictions
- be the building blocks of new and sometimes very specific and highly individual motivations.
The TE-SAT is prepared by experts at Europol and is based on information provided and verified by EU Member States and by Europol’s partners. It also relies on quantitative and qualitative data that Eurojust and the Member States provide.
An advisory board provides valuable guidance on each TE-SAT. It is made up of:
- the “trio” (as three successive presidencies of the Council of the EU are known)
- permanent members of the board
- representatives from France and Spain
- representatives from Eurojust
- representatives from the EU Intelligence Analysis Centre (INTCEN)
- representatives from the office of the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator
- Europol staff.
Structure
While there have been variations in how the TE-SAT is put together, the basic structure is fairly constant. The 2017 issue, for example, comprises the following chapters:
- Foreword (by Europol’s Director)
- Trends
- General overview
- Jihadist terrorism
- Ethno-nationalist and separatist terrorism
- Left-wing and anarchist terrorism
- Right-wing terrorism
- Single-issue terrorism.
The report also concludes with a set of seven annexes, covering:
- statistics on the failed, foiled and completed attacks per EU Member State and per terrorism category in the reporting year;
- statistics of arrests per Member State and per terrorism category;
- statistics on convictions and penalties for terrorist offences, as reported to Eurojust;
- an overview of Europol’s counter-terrorism activities.
- the report methodology;
- the acronyms and abbreviations used;
- amendments in national legislation on terrorism;
