European citizens, not refugees, behind most terrorist attacks in Europe

Since 2015, the challenges of migration and terrorism have become increasingly interlinked both in public debates and on political agendas. The idea of a nexus between migration and terrorism has gained political momentum and coalesced into two main assumptions that now define European debates on migration and terrorism:

• Refugees as vulnerable to radicalization and recruitment
• The refugee flow as a back door for terrorists

In this report, Maja Falkentoft and Manni Crone examine these two assumptions and concludes that a large majority of those behind the terrorist attacks perpetrated within the last decade were EU citizens.

In the period between January 2016 and April 2017, four asylum-seekers were involved in terrorist incidents, but no actual refugees. Moreover, in the second half of 2015, European foreign fighters who had joined Islamic State in Syria managed to travel along migration routes to reenter Europe undetected, sometimes posing as refugees.

Exploring these incidents in a policy-oriented context, this report suggests that engaging with the vulnerabilities of the EU’s Schengen border policies and management will be central in addressing the challenges arising from the intersection of migration with terrorism. The report identifies vulnerabilities in EU border management and proposes ways forward for the EU and its member states.

The aim of the report is not to produce a reliable threat assessment, but to inform and qualify policy debates on the links between migration and terrorism, as well as to point out possible solutions.