On Thursday, 1 July, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) released its 2021 report on the latest trends in terrorism in the EU, in which the agency notes that the number of attacks have remained largely stable in 2020, with a total of 57 completed, foiled, or failed attacks. The United Kingdom reported 62 attacks, and Switzerland reported two probable attacks.
This results in a stable number compared to 2019—which saw a total of 119 attacks, 64 of which were in the United Kingdom—and a decrease compared to 2018, when 129 attacks were reported.
Nevertheless, terrorism killed 21 people in the EU in 2020, notably in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine and in Nice in France, and injured 54 people. The deaths were caused by one extreme right-wing terrorist attack and six jihadist terrorist attacks.
Europol notes that—with the exception of Samuel Paty, the middle school teacher who was beheaded in France in October 2020—the victims of these attacks were chosen at random for their symbolic significance.
However, the number of arrests for terrorist attacks has dropped significantly: 449 arrests in the EU and 185 in the United Kingdom, compared to a total of 1,004 arrests in 2019. Europol explains that this decrease is probably linked to the coronavirus pandemic.
With regard to the nature of the attacks, there were more completed attacks attributed to jihadism than in 2019, with a total of 10 attacks: four of them were perpetrated by EU citizens, and five others were perpetrated by people who entered the EU as irregular migrants. Five attacks were also associated with people who had been radicalised in prison.
As far as extreme right-wing terrorism is concerned, there was one completed attack in 2020—in Hanau, Germany, to be precise—that was motivated by racism, and three such attacks were foiled in Belgium, France, and Germany. Europol adds that the individuals linked to extreme right-wing attacks are also increasingly young and that some perpetrators are even minors.
The number of attacks attributed to the extreme left or to anarchist movements also remained stable in 2020. Italy reported 24 anarchist and left-wing terrorist attacks, and arrests for anarchist and extreme left-wing terrorism dropped from 111 in 2019 to 52 in 2020, mainly due to a decrease in Italy (from 98 to 24).
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/3jDDQEp (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)