Reflections on terrorism and European identity

All measures taken as reaction to terrorist attacks - counter-terrorist actions, stricter control applied on potential terrorists, sharing intelligence information - are vital but can provide only for short-term stability. At the same time, one cannot ignore the nurturing ground for extremism - the on-going battle of values in the EU itself. Most of active terrorists in Europe are home-grown. Here is the crucial weak point of the EU and the West - vagueness of European identity and the ambiguity of loftily proclaimed European values, which in practice are mostly interpreted as “rights”.

12 years ago, Cardinal Ratzinger (later known as Pope Benedict XVI) presented an analysis entitled: “Europe is sick”. According to Ratzinger, Europe has lost its identity and cultural continuity. The void is filled with technical achievements and extreme individualism which has marginalized core values like human dignity, mutual respect, solidarity, responsibility, self-reliance, diligence and sanctity. A society whose central virtues have become more consumption and fun without borders, is failing to provide the younger generation with the authentic meaning of life, the “soul of Europe” which Jacques Delors already 25 years ago saw as the key criterion of EU’s success. It is only logical that many frustrated young people are looking for a different and often radical meaning of life.

Let us remember that 65 years ago Robert Schuman defined democracy as being rooting in Christian values, from which the dignity, uniqueness and human rights of every person has developed.  According to Schuman, a vibrant democracy must retain its connection to Christianity. The Father of Europe predicted that an anti-Christian democracy will become a parody, ending in tyranny or anarchy.

Therefore, it is up to the European Peoples Party as a Christian-democratic political force to take the lead in rediscovering European traditional values. We cannot successfully defeat the distorted and aggressive form of Islam, relying only on police force, surveillance and detention centres or offering just material well-being. The new reality which has come into being means that we shall continue to experience human tragedies and suffer moral losses unless Europe is willing and able to restore its own identity, clear and strong enough to present a credible alternative in the battle for the meaning of life. Only then can we defeat the alluring message of false Islamist prophets.

My Belgian colleague shared his concern: in the near future, the number of practicing Muslims in Belgium might well exceed the number of traditional churchgoers. Other sources indicate that this has already happened. The big problem is that as the majority of native Europeans don’t perceive any more religion and church as part of their identity and culture, the relatively younger but assertive cultural minorities are about to take the upper hand in the efforts to reshape the European identity.

My personal concern is even more far-reaching. Should we prepare ourselves and can we prevent a situation where Islamist communities in several European countries will organize themselves politically in order to take advantage of the situation, created by terrorists? In the atmosphere of deepening fear and uncertainty, can such Islamist communities start to blackmail existing social-political institutions, using indirectly terrorism as a powerful leverage? Just continuing to hope that something like this is unrealistic or not quite correct politically will not help us to face the new reality.