Brussels, 13/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has estimated that between 5,000 and 6,000 European volunteers have travelled to Syria to fight alongside the jihadis.
These figures, which include almost 1,500 French citizens, are likely to be “significantly under-estimated”, noted Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova in an interview with French daily Le Figaro on Monday 13 April.
To staunch the numbers leaving to take part in the fighting, Jourova will focus more on “prevention than punishment”. “For 2015, we have set aside a budget of €2.5 million to provide training for those in prison or on probation and for European prosecutors”, the commissioner said. She argued for better cooperation between police and judicial authorities. Information exchange between Europol and Eurojust should thus be “systematic and automatic” with the creation of “joint investigating teams” involving prosecutors and police officers from several member states. (Mathieu Bion)