00:00Now, Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, has said that online ecosystems are reshaping
00:06terrorist threats. In a report released last week, the agency also said that violence has
00:12become a means of gaining identity and belonging for a number of perpetrators,
00:16and that this creates a more complex threat across Europe. To discuss those findings in
00:21more detail, I'm joined now by Anna Sjöbri, head of the European Counterterrorism Center
00:27at Europol. Good morning, Anna. Great to have you with us. So, your report states that the lines
00:32between established terrorist ideologies and other forms of violent extremism are being
00:38blurred. Why is that a reason to be worried? We need to follow the development, and this is also
00:46what we have been describing since, if we go back to 10 years since Europe experienced the wave of
00:53mass casualties and major attacks, and also when a European Counterterrorism Center was created.
00:59And since that, we have done these trend and situation reports to describe the development
01:04of the threat. And this year, we actually describe that the threat is persistent, it still exists,
01:11and it's a major threat against European security. And the development, as you say, the blurred lines,
01:17it's because we are seeing an increasing number of different ideologies that are diversified ideologies,
01:26also, not only the traditional ones.
01:29Hmm. So, you mentioned diversifying ideologies, but what would you say, based on your analysis,
01:35is the biggest threat that Europeans should be concerned about right now?
01:40We need to understand that the threat is persistent. If you go back to 2025,
01:46and look at the numbers of arrests, you have almost 500 arrests, terrorist-related arrests,
01:52in the European Union. This shows that the threat is persistent. We also see that the major threat
01:58comes from jihadism, and that's also the most lethal threat. But we also need to understand the
02:05development of these new ideological platforms that are also popping up.
02:10And finally, I want to ask you, because the report also points to more lone actor attacks.
02:16Doesn't that make preventing or addressing the threat almost impossible for law enforcement?
02:22Yeah, that's one of the challenging elements that we are also pointing out. Because of course,
02:28if you have a lone actor using simple methods, and that doesn't actually require a lot of preparation,
02:37but they are radicalized online. And it also, this provides a lack of possibility for law enforcement
02:44to intervene in timely manner.
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