Interview: Specialist calls on Europe to work to fight terrorism

An European specialist in security and defense said on Tuesday that the European society must work to fight terrorism, of which last Friday's train shooting is the latest.

"We must take 'social measures' to diminish the number of young people attracted by extremism and terrorism," said Claude Moniquet, CEO of European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, in an interview with Xinhua.

"The problem here is that the number is extremely high: where we had a few dozens or maybe hundreds of terrorists or would-be terrorists, thirty years ago, we have thousands of them and probably tenths of thousands sympathizers," he said.

Moniquet said that the EU must strengthen the cooperation in intelligence, police and justice, which is already good, but could be better, and it must unify the counter terrorist laws.

"People must understand that without security, there is no development, no democracy and no freedom at all," he said.

As to the fact that for a long period most European countries have no baggage check measures for trains, Moniquet explained there are several reasons.

First, people think baggage check will be cumbersome for the system, he said, noting that security checks can be carried out at airports, but they can't do them at train stations, due to the huge amount of trains and large number of passengers involved.

Given the fact that people are used to traveling fast, no one is willing to go to the station one or two hours before the departure for security checks, he said.

"It is possible to do it (baggage check) only on the international trains, but in this case, the threat will be transferred on metro, tramways, bus, etc." said Moniquet.

Secondly, he said that terrorist attacks could be conducted anywhere, any time. The target could be a train, a station, a bus, a tramway, a cinema, a bar or a restaurant, a museum, a store, a sportive event, a church, or even simply people in the streets.

"It is impossible to protect everything and we cannot live in a safe. The last reason is legal," he said.

He said the European laws prevent any systematic control of transnational travels in the Schengen space.

"Given the fact that complete security is impossible to realize, it is clear that we must work on the causes of the problem," he said.

A shooting incident took place last Friday in a Thalys train which runs between Amsterdam and Paris. Three people were injured in the shooting. The suspect boarded the train from Brussels Midi station, according to the French intelligence services.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel described the foiled gun attack as a "terrorist attack" on his Twitter account. Endit