The European Union’s top counter-terrorism official says that additional terror attacks cannot be prevented in Europe. Moreover, he says that imprisoning the mujahideen who return to Europe from Syria is not a good idea.

Yes, you’re right: I should have warned you not to read those words while you were drinking your coffee. I’ll wait for you to finish cleaning up before I continue…

The current situation in Europe reminds me of El Inglés’ famous essay on the coming civil war, “Surrender, Genocide… or What?”. When unpalatable options are closed off as a matter of public policy, and then the socio-political crisis deteriorates even further, options that are currently unthinkable become the only possible courses of action.

Here’s the report from AGI:

EU’s Kerchove Says “We Cannot Prevent New Terror Attacks” (AGI) Brussels, Jan 13 — Gilles de Kerchove, the EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator, warned that “we cannot prevent further [terror] attacks.” The top European official said that prisons “are incubators of a massive radicalisation”, and explained that “it is not possible to totally prevent terrorism attacks such as the Paris massacre.” He added that the solution cannot be that of imprisoning the so-called ‘foreign fighters’ because prisons have become ‘huge incubators of radicalisation’. Italian Minister of Justice Andrea Orlando shared this sentiment by saying that “potentially prisons may become incubators” [of a certain type of Islamic extremism], hence, “great caution” is needed. Minister Orlando spoke at the sidelines of an event organised at the Poggioreale prison in Naples. He underlined that he had discussed with the EU justice ministers about the punishment to issue in order to curb this phenomenon. “Isolating such cells is of major importance,” he said, “in order to avoid what has happened in the past with other types of terrorism.” He added it was necessary to avoid “criminal punishment becoming a tool which gives more power to the organisations which we are fighting against.” He emphasized that it is necessary to bear this aspect in mind when issuing anti-terrorism norms. Minister Orlando announced he is due to meet top Italian prosecutors this Tuesday afternoon in Rome in order to assess ‘the best facility to pursue a more appropriate coordination, which is certainly the goal to be reached.”

Bear the above in mind when reading about what Europol has to say about “fighters” who return to Europe from Syria:

Up to 5,000 EU Fighters Pose Risk, Says Europol Chief In hearing before British parliament (ANSAmed) — LONDON, JANUARY 13 — There are between 3,000 and 5,000 European nationals fighting in the conflict in the Middle East who may conduct terrorist attacks once they return home, Europol director Rob Wainwright stated on Tuesday before the British parliament.

To summarize:

1. Muslims should not be sent to prison because it might lead to further “radicalization”. Criminal punishment gives more power to terror organizations. 2. The EU must not be closed to migrants from Muslim countries, because that would be “racist” and “discriminatory”. That these “asylum-seekers” may include hard-core mujahideen returning from the jihad in Iraq and Syria is just part of the price that must be paid in order to have a thriving, diverse, multicultural society. 3. The internal borders of Europe must remain open to passport-free travel. The Schengen Agreement is one of the cornerstones of European prosperity and vitality. 4. Muslims must be allowed the free practice of their religion, which is one of the core tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 5. Therefore we must allow violent jihadis into Europe, let them travel wherever they want and do whatever Islam demands that they do, and must not treat them as criminals or imprison them.

So it’s imprisonment, dhimmitude… or what?

Hat tips: C. Cantoni, Insubria.