Niamh Callinan | Europe and Eurasia Fellow
Terrorists have a propensity to exploit polarisation in society. In Europe, a collaborative mechanism known as The Council of Europe Counter-Terrorism Committee (CECT) has developed a Counter Terrorism Strategy (CST) to confront terrorism in all its manifestations. But as the CST reaches the end of its four-year enforcement period, and incidents of terrorist attempts remain consistent despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a closer of assessment this strategy and its weaknesses is necessary if Europe is to effectively tackle the rise of terrorism.
The most promising element of the CST is in the areas in which it unites its members, on principles of prevention, protection and prosecution. These objectives are evident in Croatia, Serbia and Spain’s counter-terrorism capacity country profiles. The objectives of these member states’ demonstrate a coherence in the conceptualisation of terrorism and structural strategies to best mitigate terrorism and its impacts. Further to this, the consistency of these objectives enables the member states’ to better collaborate, co-ordinate and co-operate to efficiently respond to terrorism. The CST also adequately incorporates the recognition that ‘public provocation, propaganda, radicalisation, recruitment and training’ has been adapted and moved online as a means to better recruit individuals prone to committing acts of terrorism. An example of this can be found in Spain, where a Facebook page ‘Islam en Español’ glorified ISIS and promoted militancy. Yet despite the objectives of Croatia, Serbia and Spain and their alignment with the CST, none of these country’s mechanisms truly reflect their proposed shared interest in addressing online forms of radicalisation. Croatia’s profile, dated April 2016, includes reference to the Committee of Experts on Terrorism, an inter-governmental committee which was replaced in 2018 by Council of Europe Counter-Terrorism Committee. Whilst this outdated reference clearly calls into question Croatia’s prioritisation of terrorism, it also demonstrates Croatia’s current counter-terrorism capacity does not align with the CST. Similarly, Serbia’s profile although updated in April 2021, does not make mention of the CST despite its desire to contribute to the cooperation of states. Spain’s profile makes no reference to the CST, although it does at least refer to terrorism as a priority of its national security strategy. The above profiles highlight both member states’ disregard for the CST, and more broadly, their willingness to be involved with the CECT. Whilst these profiles are not necessarily indicative of all member states, they provide an overview of the trends relating to the CST and Council of Europe Counter-Terrorism Committee in general. Further to this, Croatia and Spain (who are currently member states of the European Union) and Serbia (who is set to become a member in 2022), appear to be more engaged with the work of the European Union. Spain, who in 2020 was exposed to 24 of the 57 terrorist attacks in Europe, has aligned with the European Union Counter Terrorism Strategy whilst Serbia has endorsed the Joint Action Plan on Counter-Terrorism for the Western Balkans and is supporting the Radicalisation Awareness Network in the region. Their active engagement in these external operations demonstrates a substantial ineffectiveness of the CST to find support, participation or engagement at a level that could broker meaningful change.
With the CST suffering from a lack of serious engagement, its ability to make genuine strides to limit terrorism across Europe is significantly hampered. The Council of Europe should look to combine its efforts with the European Union in order to simplify the approach to counter-terrorism across Europe. By shifting away from separate strategies on counter-terrorism, the Council of Europe and the European Union can ensure the implementation of effective mechanisms to address the threat of terrorism which continues to feed on the polarising political discourse taking place across Europe.
Niamh Callinan is the Europe and Eurasia Fellow for Young Australians in International Affairs.
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