Terror risk still high, EU anti-terrorism chief warns

European Union citizens should not assume that the terrorist threat to Europe has receded just because there have been no major attacks in recent years, EU anti-terrorism co-ordinator Gilles De Kerchove warned Sunday.
De Kerchove's job is to oversee and boost co-operation between member states and the EU's central organs on terrorism issues. "If Europe has not been the target of an attack, it does not mean that there is no threat. This impression does not reflect the reality,"De Kerchove told the German Press Agency dpa.
"There are still reasons for being concerned," including the activity of terrorist recruiters in Europe and the growth of radicalisation in areas as diverse as North Africa, Afghanistan, Yemen and Bangladesh, De Kerchove said. The position of EU anti-terrorism co-ordinator was created in 2004, shortly after Islamist terrorists killed 191 people in a bomb attack on the Madrid underground. De Kerchove took over the role in 2007.