Belgische Minister van Binnenlandse Zaken bekritiseert het gebruik van het VS terreuralarm (en)
EUOBSERVER i / BRUSSELS - Belgium's acting interior minister has criticised the US for publishing a terror alert earlier this month which did not differentiate between EU i countries and regions.
"The Americans issued a travel warning to their citizens to be vigilant if they travel in Europe, irrespective if it is Paris or London or my little village - everything was the same. To put it in short, this doesn't work," Annemie Turtelboom told journalists during a press briefing in Brussels on Wednesday (27 October).
"I called my American colleague and the response was - we only told our citizens to be vigilant. But then our [European] citizens ask - what about us, is it not a problem for us?"
The US alert on 3 October spoke of "potential terrorist attacks in Europe" and referred to "current information" about an Al-Qaeda plot. Subsequent US media reports said France, Germany, Britain and the US are potential targets for radicalised European nationals trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Some EU states, such as the UK, followed-up with their own alerts. The vast majority, including Germany, did not. Meanwhile, a US official at a meeting with EU interior ministers in Luxembourg one week later declined to give details.
"[EU] member states are sharing intelligence, this is not an issue," Ms Turtelboom said. "But when the US is issuing a travel alert for the whole of Europe, we don't have a mechanism to react or to make our communication in the same way. So then it's 27 answers in a different way."
EU anti-terrorism supremo Gilles De Kerchove, also present at Wednesday's press briefing, confirmed that a fresh terrorist threat really exists.
"There is a growing concern in several member states to see people leaving Europe to be trained for the Jihad and then to come back. The challenge for police and the intelligence community is how to detect these people, since many of them are not known to the police. That was the core of the concern of the Americans and some of our intelligence services," he said.
Germany is concerned about its citizens going to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The UK is focusing on training camps in Somalia and Yemen and while France is studying links between Al-Qaeda and the Islamic Maghreb.
"We know the figures mentioned by the Germans - out of some 200, if 70 are coming back from these training camps, you have a problem," Mr De Kerchove added.
He defended the US alert, saying that Washington has a legal obligation to warn citizens after a deadly attack - the PanAm airlines bombing over Lockerbie - in 1988. US secret services at the time did not disclose intelligence about the threat. But US diplomats avoided PanAm flights.
Mr De Kerchove noted that US alert could damage the tourist sector, however.
"The test is if having information makes you change your behaviour. You may decide to go to Asia instead of Europe," he said.
One week after the 3 October warning, a US survey found that 19 percent of American travelers cancelled trips to Europe and 52 percent were put off from planning a visit.
The United States Tour Operators Association says that following alerts travel companies "initially see a flurry of calls and questions from concerned consumers" but this is followed by "an acceptance of current realities and the continued desire to travel."