Interior Ministers of the 28 EU countries are to discuss Thursday in Luxembourg the issue of European nationals fighting in Syria and posing a threat to the continent security upon their return, almost two weeks after the terror attack at the Jewish Museum by a man who reportedly joined jihadists in Syria.
“We've more than 2,000 Europeans who have been to Syria, or in the process of going to Syria or who have returned from Syria,” the EU’s counter terrorism chief Gilles de Kerchove said.
‘’This doesn't mean that they all want to commit atrocities, but some will. They have been trained with Kalashnikovs or light arms, possibly with explosives, but not for big attacks,’’ he added.
During the ministerial meeting, he present an internal document on how to tackle what is perceived by the European Commission as a growing internal security threat.
The meeting will likely see ministers adopt a commission strategy on how to prevent people from being lured into terrorism and how to prevent people from going to Syria and how to detect "suspicious" travel.
The ministers are also likely to discuss a bill entitling member states to use the data of air passengers leaving or entering the EU to investigate crime and terrorism allegations. The initiative had being vetoed by the European Parliament.
Belgian Interior Minister is pushing for the bill to be adopted immediately.
"I don't believe in large scale attacks like 9/11, but the EU should prepare for attacks by individuals eager to kill several people at the same time," said Gilles de Kerchove.
"I don't know if Nemmouche (the Frenchman suspect in the Jewish Museum shooting arrested last Friday in Marseille) was acting alone, but he did benefit from the free movement of persons across the Schengen zone. Member states should strengthen their co-operation and make better use of the information service of Schengen, Europol and Interpol."
According to a Europol report, ‘’a total of 152 terrorist attacks occurred in five EU Member States. The majority took place in France (63), Spain (33) and the UK (35).”
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said this week that ''We’ve never faced a challenge on this scale.”