Europe, again the theater of terrorist violence.

After a series of attacks in France, Austria was in turn hit, Monday, November 2, by an attack in the center of its capital.

A black series which recalls that the terrorist threat has not dissipated in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, recalls Jenny Raflik, professor in contemporary history of international relations at the University of Nantes and specialist in security issues and terrorism. 

France 24: After France, Austria was the scene of a violent attack on Monday evening.

Has the Covid-19 pandemic overshadowed the terrorist threat?

Jenny Raflik: Yeah, in a way.

I observe two chronologies.

The first shows us that since March, we have been undeniably immersed in a media obsession for the virus, its discovery and its consequences.

We have forgotten the terrorist threat, although it has always been present.

You only have to read the study of the Ministry of the Interior published on this subject to see it.

Last spring, jihadist propaganda even took hold of the Covid-19, presenting it as a divine punishment against the West.

If the authorities have not turned away from the problem, including at the height of the epidemic, they have nevertheless made the management of the health crisis their priority.  

Then the assassination of the professor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, on October 16, changed this order.

As always, the post-attack emotion was considerable.

The authorities' priorities now seem to be on the fight against terrorism.

The conjunction of these two threats (pandemic and terrorism) is a challenge of monstrous magnitude for the public authorities.

More than ever, they must act on two crucial fronts.

This is also not without impact on citizens.

As individuals, the pandemic context has already weakened us psychologically.

We therefore feel more vulnerable in the face of the unbearable nature of the terrorist threat.

Has Austria already been hit by a wave of terrorist violence in recent years, like France?

Austria has not experienced violence comparable to that experienced in France, but the country does not have the same area, nor the same challenges.

That said, he has not been spared in recent years either.

In March 2018, a young man, described as an Islamist sympathizer by the police, carried out a knife attack in front of the Iranian embassy in Vienna, before being shot dead.

The previous year, a couple had been murdered in Linz, in the west of the country, by a man who claimed religious intentions.

The Austrian police had also announced that they had foiled a few organized attacks on its soil. 

The latest attacks observed in France, as elsewhere, seem to bear witness to a similar modus operandi: that of individuals acting alone, without having deployed significant resources or a specific organization ...

The latest attacks in recent weeks are not large-scale attacks, like those of November 13, 2015. These individuals are indeed acting in isolation.

They respond to the strategy of “thousand slashes” initiated by Al-Qaeda in 2004, then taken up by the Islamic State group, in particular through the voice of its spokesperson Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, ten years later.

This strategy calls on everyone to strike the enemy with low intensity attacks, wherever they are, to gradually exhaust them and overcome their resilience capacity. 

These attacks have not replaced large-scale actions, but are even more worrying, as it is more difficult for authorities to identify those who are likely to take action.

Above all, this strategy is a particularly formidable weapon for distilling fear in society and instilling internal tensions. 

Does the terrorist threat looming over Europe require common security decisions?

The EU already has a few institutions in this area.

After the terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004, the leaders of the 27 adopted a declaration on the fight against terrorism.

Among the measures, a post of EU coordinator dedicated to this dossier had been set up.

Likewise, the EU was able to put on the table a certain number of devices such as the PNR (“Passenger name record”), a tool for centralizing the data of passengers on European flights, adopted in 2016 by the European Parliament. 

But if the EU can put tools on the table, it is not intended to replace nation states, because the fight against terrorism falls under sovereign authority.

A common response would not necessarily be the best suited because the interests, like the threats suffered by each country, are obviously not the same.

However, the 27 will have to show unity in the face of the double threat we face.

Especially since the financial resources are not unlimited: to invest on one side, it will be necessary to cut corners on the other.

The challenge promises to be perilous.

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