EU politici waarschuwen voor xenofobie na aanslagen in Noorwegen (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero i on Monday (25 July) called for a common EU response to fight xenophobia, echoing similar remarks by German chancellor Merkel i and home affairs commissioner Malmstrom i in the wake of the Norway killings.
"This is something extremely serious that requires a response, a European response, a shared response to defend freedom, to defend democracy, calling on people to rise up and fight radicalism, to respond against xenophobia," Zapatero said in a press conference in London after meeting his British counterpart.
The Spanish leader, whose country went through the trauma of terrorist bombings in 2004, said that the twin attacks carried out by the self-confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik "is one of the most worrying and serious events that we have ever seen take place on European soil."
"Where we have seen this upsurge or rebirth of xenophobic ideas, when we have seen that happening in our old democratic Europe, then we have to react quickly. We can't let time go by and let that carry on," Zapatero added.
The 32-year old Breivik confessed to have carried out the bombing in central Oslo claiming the lives of at least eight people and the shooting spree on a nearby island where he machine-gunned 68 persons, mostly teenagers. In a court hearing behind closed doors, he argued this was "necessary" in order to save Norway and Europe from "Marxist and Muslim colonisation," the judge on his case said Monday.
Breivik has admitted to the actions, but denies criminal responsibility for them, with his lawyer saying that he has "a completely different perception of reality" than other people. Two psychiatrists have been assigned to assess his mental health.
The judge decided to put him in solitary confinement for four weeks, with no access to newspapers or letters, in order to prevent him from having the media platform he wanted to have to propagate his xenophobic ideas.
If convicted of terrorism, he faces the maximum sentence in Norway - 21 years in prison which can be prolonged indefinitely every five years if he poses a serious threat to society.
The UK authorities are looking into the alleged links with British right-wing groups, as outlined in his 1500-page manifesto posted online a few days before the attacks.
But according to Norwegian police sources quoted by Reuters, the attacks appear to have been carried out without accomplices.
German chancellor Angela Merkel, herself identified as a 'target' in Breivik's killing manual, on Sunday also urged an increase in efforts to fight xenophobia. "This hatred [of foreigners] is our common enemy," she said.
And home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, herself from Norway's neighbouring Sweden, also a country hit by a terrorist attack last year, said that Breivik's manifesto "is a product of a very disturbed man, but unfortunately we recognise some of these sentiments in Europe today".
"I have many times expressed my concern over xenophobic parties who build their unfortunately quite successful rhetoric on negative opinions on Islam and other so called threats against society. This creates a very negative environment, and sadly there are too few leaders today who stand up for diversity and for the importance of having open, democratic, and tolerant societies where everybody is welcome," she said in a post on her personal blog.
The EU commission is trying to push forward an initiative on fighting "radicalisation" by gathering researchers, social workers, religious leaders, youth leaders and policemen to exchange ideas and experiences.
The project will receive €4 million during the coming years and has now been extended to Norway as well.
Malmstrom also stressed the need for governments to move ahead with a draft law making it more difficult for people to buy substances which can be used to make bombs as the one that detonated in central Oslo.
Breivik, who had opened up an organic farm in order to have a legal pretext for buying large quantities of fertiliser for his bomb, came to the attention of Norwegian secret services when he also purchased other substances from an online shop in Poland. But the quantities were too small to put him under investigation, Norwegian authorities said.
Poland's internal security agency confirmed that a Polish company supplied Breivik with chemicals for the bomb, but said that nobody was detained, contrary to earlier press reports.
The agency is however analysing his manifesto, especially the parts suggesting some materials necessary for bomb construction could be bought in Poland.