Many politicians discuss countermeasures in Austrian capital shooting
Europe faces the threat of terrorism again (global hot spot)
Yang Ning Zhu Jinyi
On the evening of November 2, local time, a shooting occurred in the Austrian capital Vienna.
Before the gunman was killed by the police, he opened fire at 6 different locations in the city center, killing 4 people and wounding 17 others.
The extremist organization "Islamic State" subsequently claimed responsibility for this action.
On November 10th, French President Macron held talks with visiting Austrian Chancellor Kurz, and then held a video conference with German Chancellor Merkel, European Commission President Von der Lein and other European dignitaries to focus on the European counter-terrorism situation and response measures.
Austria has maintained neutrality on major international issues throughout the year, and its immigration acceptance policy is relatively conservative.
The capital Vienna has not had a serious terrorist attack for nearly 40 years and is one of the safest cities in Europe. This attack shocked the entire Europe.
The Vienna shooting is also the third violence in a European country that has been caused by extremists since the beheading of a teacher in Paris on October 16 and the hacking in Nice on October 29.
It can be seen that the terrorist forces that have died down under the influence of the global epidemic have already made a comeback in Europe.
"Lone wolf" attacks increase the difficulty of counter-terrorism
According to CNN, the Austrian Interior Minister Nehammer introduced that the gunman was 20-year-old Feizule Kujim, who has dual citizenship of Austria and North Macedonia.
Kujim was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April last year for trying to travel to Syria to join the "Islamic State", but after being evaluated by the judicial system, he was granted early parole in December last year.
Nehammer said that the crime after Kujim's release was a "folly" of the Austrian judicial system.
In recent years, "lone wolf-like" attackers who were born in Europe, influenced by extreme ideas, and commit crimes randomly, like Kujim, are not uncommon.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) cited expert analysis as saying that the main actors of terrorist attacks in Europe have gradually shown a localized tendency.
These individuals secretly associated with extremist organizations have legal citizenship and are difficult to identify.
In the context of the rebound of the epidemic in Europe, it is not realistic to require the police to invest more manpower to conduct detailed and extensive investigations and monitoring.
In addition, the subjective disguise of extremists makes early release possible.
Although they need to undergo de-radicalization training and transformation after being arrested, it is difficult to know whether extreme thoughts have been completely eradicated.
The disguised extremists return to society like a "depth bomb" that is impossible to guard against.
Yan Jin, executive director of the Center for European Studies at Renmin University of China, analyzed that the localization of terrorist forces reflects the failure of European economic development and the policy of diversification and integration.
"Since the European debt crisis, the European economy has been in a long-term downturn, and countries are struggling to invest in anti-terrorism security. The lack of social development momentum also threatens the survival of all citizens, especially the younger generation, and the unemployment rate of minority groups is much higher than that of white groups. "
Yan Jin believes that minority ethnic groups have a single career choice and low social status, and their inherent customs and cultural beliefs are "unacceptable" in Europe. They have gradually formed a relatively closed circle and are gradually alienated from mainstream society.
The difference in social treatment and cultural identity can easily lead to contradictions between the two and provide soil for the growth of terrorism.
Loopholes in transnational intelligence cooperation
Regrettably, the Vienna shooting might have been avoided.
According to Reuters, Nehammer admitted that the Austrian National Protection and Counter-Terrorism Service (BVT) had received intelligence from Slovakia.
The intelligence pointed out that Kujim had tried to go to Slovakia to buy ammunition, but it did not attract enough attention.
Nehammer said that an independent committee will be established to investigate the intelligence processing process.
The occurrence of the Vienna shooting fully shows that the EU's intelligence cooperation in counter-terrorism has not yet formed an effective synergy.
Although the EU anti-terrorism cooperation mechanism includes specialized criminal police organizations, intelligence assessment centers and other institutions, multi-head management and overlapping functions are common problems of these institutions. Their functional positioning is limited to contact and communication, and a general intelligence collection, analysis and action process has not yet been formed. .
Behind the imperfect counter-terrorism cooperation mechanism are the political considerations of EU countries.
"Although regional coordinated anti-terrorism advocates intelligence sharing, suspect hunting and even judicial collaboration, these contents are still within the power of the internal regime." Yan Jin analyzed, "The cooperation between EU countries is still an intergovernmental model, and countries are not willing Completely transfer powers related to national security."
In addition, traditional Western values have objectively increased resistance to anti-terrorism legislation, and many bills and resolutions related to anti-terrorism have therefore been shelved or rejected.
As early as 2007, the Council of the European Union passed a framework resolution recommending the establishment of a European passenger name registration system to record the movement of people between Schengen countries to prevent the entry of suspected extremists.
The European Parliament believes that the system violates citizens' privacy and personal freedom, and has repeatedly rejected this resolution until 2016.
Anti-terrorism or advance European integration
The sudden attack on Vienna, which has been quiet all the year round, sends a clear signal to European countries: the highly random "lone wolf" attack will still be the killer of European terrorist forces, and no country can ensure that it is the Garden of Eden from being victimized.
Macron, Kurtz, Merkel and other leaders reiterated in this week's video conference that terrorism is a real threat facing Europe and must promptly adopt coordinated response measures.
It is worth noting that during the meeting Macron and others called for reforms in the entry and exit policies of Schengen countries with open internal borders, and required the establishment of a European Internal Security Council to prevent individual countries’ asylum rights from being abused by extremists.
Bloomberg commented on this that tightening border controls and asylum policies may increase tensions between Europe and foreign immigrant countries.
The Financial Times quoted EU officials as saying that EU countries other than France and Austria are cautious about tightening immigration policies.
"It is necessary for the Schengen countries to have stricter immigration access policies, but they should also be wary of this practice being used by the extreme right to promote racism, xenophobia and other extreme remarks." Yan Jin analyzed that in Europe Under the linkage of the crisis, the refugee problem, the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and terrorist attacks, the influence of some right-wing parties in Europe is constantly expanding.
These parties attribute the European plight to the minority groups and immigrant groups, which can easily intensify the contradictions between the minority groups and the mainstream European society and fall into a vicious circle of misunderstanding and conflict.
"Recent terrorist attacks have shown that European countries are facing a common anti-terrorism dilemma. They should adjust their anti-terrorism practices that have been more common and less common." Yan Jin believes that even in the face of rising terrorist forces and counter-terrorism With the trend of globalization, the direction of European integration will not change.
"From a historical point of view, European integration has always been progressing in overcoming difficulties and crises. It should be noted that European countries have a broad consensus that only unity can lead to prosperity." Yan Jin analyzed, "In the joint response to terrorism In the course of the problem, Europe’s overall security awareness will be strengthened, which will help build an effective anti-terrorism cooperation mechanism."