EU Experiences Decline In Terrorist Attacks

Terrorism continued to represent a major threat to EU Member States in 2018 according to Europol. 13 people were killed in terrorist attacks across the EU in 2018, with all of them jihadist in nature and committed by individuals acting alone. Even though they didn't lead to any deaths, ethno-nationalist and separatist attacks in the EU continued to outnumber other types of terrorist attacks.

There were 129 foiled, failed and completed terrorist attacks in the EU in 2018, a decline on the 205 recorded by Europol in 2017. 24 of last year's attacks were jihadist in nature while 19 were left-wing and one was right-wing. The vast majority, 83, were ethno-nationalist and separatist. The trend was similar in 2017 when there were 137 ethno-nationalist and separatist attacks compared to 33 jihadist attacks and 24 left-wing attacks.