Europol Notes Greek Terrorism Increase

The social and economic conditions in Greece have contributed to a rise in terrorism cases in the country in 2013. That is according to the annual EU terrorism report released by Europol, the European police network. The situation in Greece is not as bad as in countries such as France, the UK or Ireland, but it is a source of worry for the authorities.

The report says that during last year terrorism by anarchists and the urban guerilla movement managed to rearm and begin operations anew. In 2013 there were 14 terrorist acts, among the lowest in Europe, but still up from the year before.

Europol calls the “Conspiracy of the Nuclei of Fire” the most active Greek terrorist group in the past year, mentioning the murder of the two Golden Dawn members last November too. In the report there is also a link between the rise in the terrorist attacks with the raise in imprisonment terms for terrorism. It mentions that although the member states have enforced an average10 year terrorism sentence, Greece has raised its average sentence to 27 years.

Other than that, France is the terror capital of Europe, with 63 of the 152 EU-wide terrorist attacks in 2013 taking place in the country. There were 225 arrests in France for terror related offenses, and concern has spiked over radicalization of EU citizens in Syria.

A total of 152 terrorist attacks occurred in five EU Member States. The majority took place in France (63), Spain (33) and the UK (35). After an increase in 2012, the number of terrorist attacks in 2013 fell below the number recorded in 2011,” read the EUROPOL report.

Seven people were the victim of terror-related offenses across Europe in terrorist attacks in general, while 535 people were arrested for terrorism-related offenses.

Three people were killed in the France attacks, according to the end-of-year publication. All of those who died in France were Kurdish women. Additionally, across the rest of Europe a British soldier in London was killed – the report notes the high-profile case of solider Lee Rigby who was attacked with a meat cleaver in southeast London a year ago.