But why did this series of attacks occur when it did? What has changed since the military defeat of the Islamic State in 2017? And what does this say about the security situation of individual European countries and the Union as a whole?

To answer these and further questions, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung started the study series “Jihadist Terrorism in Europe” in which renowned experts analyze the jihadi terrorist scene in Austria, Belgium, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. They discuss not only past terrorist attacks and offenders, but also look into the counter-terrorism strategies of each country and the political context of each state. The authors establish a current threat picture of each country and make policy recommendations to prevent future attacks.

On March 30, 2022, the authors – Dr. Guido Steinberg, Guy Van Vlierden, Pieter Van Ostaeyen, Dr. Cynthia Salloum and Raffaello Pantucci – came together online to present their studies and put their findings into a European context. Dr. Christiane Höhn, Principal Advisor to the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator of the Council of the European Union, moderated the discussion. They identified similarities and differences between the situations in their countries. The experts agreed that while information sharing was an important responsibility of the EU, the national governments are still the main actors when it comes to counter-terrorism measures.

Please find the complete recording of the discussion here.