Valls: Europe must pull itself together

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, speaking in Munich today in the framework of the 52th Security Conference, warned that Europe will face new large-scale terrorist attacks, the head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza, Orhan Sattorov, reports.

'Pseudo-state formations, ruled by the terrorists that call themselves a "caliphate", exist today. We must act decisively against them. We have entered a new world after the terrorist attacks in France. We must speak the truth to our people – you can be sure there will be more large-scale terrorist attacks in Europe," he said.

The French Prime Minister also noted that right now, a new era has begun. "It should be understood that this terrorism is in the center of our society. If earlier we talked about external enemies, now the enemy is within our society. Thousands of young people in France have received radical training. There are a lot of women among them. About one third of French citizens leaving for Syria are converted Muslims. The threat of terrorism hangs not only over France, jihadist terrorism threatens both Muslim and Western European countries. What has been happening lately, including the tragedy with the Russian airliner, shows that no country is safe from terrorism," Manuel Valls explained.

In addition, he expressed concern over stability in West African countries, which are facing the threat of terrorism directly. "We must fight against the terrorists relentlessly until their complete eradication, diplomatic measures won't help here. We must inflict military strikes against Daesh and al-Qaeda, this war concerns all of us, we must mobilize our forces," the head of government stressed.

According to him, the fact that Syrian migrant flows are inundating Europe today emphasizes the desperate situation on the Syrian territories, as well as "the need to provide humanitarian assistance to the population and to find a political solution to this conflict." He once again urged the participants, however, personally appealing to the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, to stop the bombings of the Syrian civilian population.

"It is necessary to strengthen the means and methods of security actions. European countries must understand it above all, we need to invest in the security sphere. In France, such drastic measures have been implemented since 2012, even before the terrorist attacks, and we will continue to work. It must be understood not only at the national level, but also at the European level," the French Prime Minister pointed out.

In this regard, he drew attention to the need for the fight against radicalization in the European community. "It is necessary to act in a new way against the perverse tricks of the jihadists, hiding behind traditional Islam. There is nothing more difficult than a fight against ideological vice, but using the principles of democracy and pluralism we will find the answer to this challenge. This fight is global, perhaps the fight of an entire generation, and it must also involve Muslim communities in our countries. It is necessary to coordinate actions in the fight against the threat hanging over us, and it is necessary to act immediately," Manuel Valls stated.

He reported that a few weeks ago, President Francois Hollande wanted to meet with the Russian and US presidents, Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama. "We believe that the Syrian crisis will not be resolved without the participation of these countries. The strength of French diplomacy is in the fact that it is capable of conducting and maintaining dialogue with everyone, in a language understandable for them. We have a common enemy – it is Daesh and al-Qaeda," he said, once again stating the need to stop the bombing of the civilian population and the moderate opposition in Syria, since it cannot lead to a resolution of the conflict.