MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2020) The radicalization of Muslim youth in Europe that peaked with the deadly terrorist attacks in France and Austria is a consequence of strategic miscalculation on the the part of European law enforcement agencies, lawmakers from Germany and Italy told Sputnik.
A series of brutal murders took place in France over the past two weeks, prompting the authorities to ramp up counter-terrorist measures. On Monday night, six different locations in the Austrian capital of Vienna were simultaneously subjected to gunman attacks, which left five people killed and 17 others injured.
"There is for sure a strategic miscalculation of the European law enforcement agencies," Andrea Picchielli, a lawmaker from Italy's right-leaning Lega party, said, adding that "it is important to improve immediately counter-terrorism measures and face the reality, not always trying to be 'politically correct.'"
�His opinion was echoed by Siegbert Droese, a member of the German parliament's Committee on European Union Affairs, who added that "the West must change its behavior in a certain way to find an appeasement with totally different ways of thinking, with other cultures."
According to Droese, European societies should be more conscious of the limits of the freedom of speech, especially with regard to religious matters.
"It is not an isolated mistake. We have too many 'individual' cases. Criminals must leave the EU," the German lawmaker said.
Picchielli, in turn expressed fears that more religiously-motivated attacks might be awaiting Europe in the future.
"There is the danger of new terrorist attack in near future in all the Western countries, not just in Europe. There must be more cooperation against Islamic radicalism, and Europe and the United States must cooperate also with Russia to fight this common enemy," he said.
The Italian lawmaker noted that the radicalization of Muslim youth has been brewing for many years and, stressing that he stood by the freedom of speech, said that no words can serve as an excuse for brutal terrorist attacks.
�Last week, a 21-year-old man from Tunisia killed three people in a church in France's southern city of Nice, including two by beheading. Two weeks before that, a 17-year-old Muslim teen beheaded a Parisian teacher who showed caricatures of Islamic prophet Muhammad during a freedom of speech lesson.�
