Visa-free system
Europe’s visa-free Schengen system, already threatened by the migrant influx, is also under fresh scrutiny.
Much of the attention centers on Belgium, as authorities here are increasingly pressured to explain how a terrorist network apparently managed to plot and carry out two attacks — in Paris and Brussels — within months.
Turkish authorities said Wednesday they had caught Ibrahim El Bakraoui in 2013 at the Syrian border and deported him to the Netherlands.
“Despite our warnings that this person was a foreign terrorist fighter, the Belgian authorities could not identify a link to terrorism,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters Wednesday.
For their part, Belgian authorities say the El Bakraoui brothers were primarily known as criminals who spent time in prison.
Not everyone is pointing fingers.
“Who is at fault in the area of terrorism?” EU Commission President Juncker asked in an interview with Le Soir. “Let’s not start criticizing Belgium. I don’t share this scorn.”
Counter-terrorism expert Thomas Reynard, of the Brussels-based Egmont Institute, believes cooperation between French and Belgian police is often underestimated.
“It’s not like we just started cooperation,” he said. “Obviously cooperation between police, between intelligence services anywhere in the world — including often within one single country — is also difficult.”
“So is this a case of perfect cooperation – definitely not,” he added. “But what’s important is these remain hiccups rather than a major lack of cooperation.”