The cost of terrorism: the European example

Terrorism is the set of acts of violence (attacks, hostage-taking, etc.) committed by an organization or an individual to create a climate of insecurity, to exert a change on the government, to satisfy a hatred of concerning a community, a country, a system.

Behind these attacks, these dramas, these media saturated with information there is also an economic reality that individuals do not take into account.

When a dramatic event occurs, we worry about the humans who are in danger, for the police who are mobilized, it is this empathy that makes us humans. We do not think about the economic repercussions that this will generate, nor do we care about the budget that the states allocate for our protection. We want to be protected and that's it.

In Europe, according to a study published in May 2018 by the European Parliamentary Research Service, the impact of terrorism on European GDP is estimated at 185 billion. More specifically, from 2004 to 2006 the countries most economically impacted were France (44,944 million euros), the United Kingdom (44,385 million euros) and Spain (42,722 million euros). In this calculation, human costs (dead and injured) and material damage are taken into account.

The study also denounces the poor positioning of Europe’s anti-terrorist policies which have focused on jihadism. However, the study clearly shows that the majority of attacks committed or foiled were "carried out by separatist movements" (Separatism is a political movement that seeks to separate a region, a province, a territory or a state, the country or the larger whole to which it belongs. The aim is to obtain political recognition on a territorial basis and to create a new independent State.).

This shows that the money already used in these policies is not being used optimally and that Europe could better manage its budget for optimum results.

In addition, the budget devoted to the fight against terrorism in Europe increased by 4 billion euros in 2016. If the inaction of the European Union vis-a-vis the terrorist threat was denounced in this study, we note that Europeans have become aware of the international terrorist threat in recent years.

The fight against terrorism is an urgent matter. We have seen since 2004 that in Europe, measures have been put in place for civil security and that budgets have been increased. Finally, it has been found that terrorism costs states dearly (whether in terms of human loss or material damage) and that its cost is sometimes overlooked by everyone.

The link of the study question:

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/621817/EPRS_STU(2018)621817_EN.pdf

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