Brussels, January 17, 2014
"The number of young EU citizens recruited by extremist organizations is increasing. According to the official statistics, more than 1200 people left their homes and towns in order to fight on the side of militants in such countries as Syria, the Sudan, Somalia. Unfortunately, we realize that this number is much greater," admitted the European commissioner.
According to her estimation, the EU members are not giving enough attention to this issue. "European countries, as before, are too weakly resisting this increasing threat. I am calling upon everybody to tackle this problem seriously. This must be opposed at level of family, school, town, country, and EU leadership," noted Malmström.
She said that the foundation of a European knowledge center for struggle with extremism was scheduled for 2015. "If this idea is accepted by governments of the EU states, then the European Commission will appropriate 20 million Euros for the foundation of such a center," explained Malmström.
