EU ministers called on member states to intensify checks on migrants and expel those deemed a security risk, days after suspected Islamists killed a teacher in France and two Swedish citizens in Brussels, BBC reported.
Police across Europe are on high alert after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron attended the funeral of 57-year-old literature teacher Dominique Bernard and awarded him the Legion of Honour, France’s highest civilian decoration.
Bernard and his colleagues tried to grab the attacker, resulting in serious injuries to another teacher and a security guard. Dominique Bernard’s wife, Isabelle, said:
He was sensitive and quiet. He did not like the sound and fury of the world.
The 20-year-old suspect Mohamed Mogouchkov is a Russian citizen of Chechen origin. Eyewitnesses claimed that he shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is the greatest”) during the attack last Friday.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin stated that a certain naivety remained “in the institutions of some countries.” Monday’s attack in Brussels also exposed problems with the EU’s migration and asylum systems.
Tunisian gunman Abdesalem Lassoued, 45, shot dead two Swedish football fans the evening before a Euro 2024 qualifying match and was killed by police the next morning.
Belgian authorities reported on Thursday that he had unsuccessfully sought asylum in four European countries, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Belgium. Sweden’s migration agency earlier claimed he had served a prison sentence there between 2012 and 2014. Belgium rejected his asylum application in 2020, but he continued to live in the country illegally.
EU ministers intend to oblige member states to return people living illegally in the bloc, but the plan has not progressed for years.
The war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas has led to fears of further militant violence on the continent.
Italy is imposing controls on its border with Slovenia for 10 days due to concerns about national security and illegal migration. Slovenia will impose border controls with Croatia and Hungary from Saturday.
Several other EU member states, including Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, have already introduced border checks in an attempt to curb people smuggling.
