Europe challenges Islamist extremism amid calls for unified position

Nahla Abdel Moneim

The countries of the European Union are waging a violent war against terrorism, its financing and beliefs, as this war has intensified recently against the background of the attacks carried out by ISIS and its extremist wolves in the region.

Treating extremism

European leaders are trying to regroup to confront the Islamist trend and its elements, as they held a mini-summit on November 10 with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, along with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss measures needed to stop the bloodshed in the region.

The leaders fear broader attacks that could kill hundreds, as happened on the night of November 13, 2015 in Paris. During the recent summit, Macron stressed that EU countries need to formulate a rapid, decisive and unified response against violent extremist threats.

Macron added during the summit, which was held via video conference, that the measures necessary for confronting terrorism must include developing the frameworks that the EU relies on in common databases, exchanging information to enhance knowledge of current and potential criminals after careful study of terrorist cases, and strengthening punitive measures in a strict and uniform manner so that no extremist escapes accountability for his crime.

Extremist propaganda

With regard to extremist propaganda and incitement on the internet, the French president said that EU platforms should seriously confront violent speech on the internet and not leave any space on social media sites to be a means of communication between extremists or to mobilize or recruit new members. He called on the competent authorities to monitor the contents that extremists share on the internet in order to neutralize the murderous ideologies from European society.

Brussels meeting

Macron took advantage of his meeting with senior European leaders in Brussels to emphasize the immigration laws between them, which are governed by open cooperation, and to dispense with some strict measures followed by the rest of the world in what is known as the Schengen system. He also stressed the need to tighten measures to monitor internal borders, register names of migrants between countries, and address any security defects in the system.

Against terrorism, not religions

German Chancellor Angela Merkel took advantage of the meeting to raise an important intellectual issue that dominates the discussion of fighting terrorism, which is the confusion between religions and issues of extremism. She stressed that the war that European countries seek to wage is against terrorism and its groups, not religions, whether Islam or Christianity.

Merkel pointed out that they seek to confront extremist beliefs and suspicious financing methods that facilitate the work of terrorist groups, adding that EU countries must adhere to the democratic model of state rule and combat ideologies against freedom and political pluralism.

European measures

EU countries, particularly France and Germany, are trying to find a unified formula to combat extremism in the region, as the recent terrorist operations have showed, in addition to the political reports that were available before the implementation of this latest wave, that terrorist elements still have the ability to carry out violent attacks.

This is directly linked to the ideological dimension, which means that Islamist groups have an ideological hegemony over the minds of the troubled youth in the region. This makes them ready to embrace extremism and to implement it on the ground when the opportunity arises.

The Brotherhood represents the most important and prominent current in this context, as it has a wide network of organizations in Europe, especially in Germany and France. The group first began operating in Europe through the Islamic Center of Munich, Germany, while France witnessed the group’s establishment of the European Institute of Human Sciences and the Grand Mosque of Paris. The Brotherhood also established other organizations in the region to spread the group’s ideology, which paved the way for extremism.

However, an important question remains for Europe, which is will EU countries unite in their decisions to declare some as terrorists? Leaders could agree to classify a group as terrorist, such as the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, as Germany has banned it, while the EU basically prohibits its armed side but not its political side. But what is their ability to avoid it completely and in a unified manner? This also applies to the Brotherhood and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Grey Wolves group. Will France be able to appeal to everyone to classify it as a terrorist as it did?