MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Instability in the Middle East and the Levant as an aggravating factor in security risk levels – P-003021/2024

Priority question for written answer  P-003021/2024
to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Rule 144
Sebastião Bugalho (PPE)

On 3 December 2024, Sven Koopmans, the European Union Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process, said, during an exchange of views in a meeting of Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, that we should not be surprised, although it is never justifiable, if we see an increase in terrorism in the coming years, owing to the way in which war is being waged in the Middle East.

Following the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has supported the ongoing transition, but stressed that Syria should be prevented from becoming a ‘base for terrorism’.

I therefore ask the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy:

• 1.Is an assessment currently being carried out of the extent to which the instability in the Middle East and the Levant is an aggravating factor in security risk levels, not only regionally but also around the work, including for European countries and people?
• 2.What specific steps and responses are being taken or considered in that regard, including to control and prevent risks of that kind?

Submitted: 18.12.2024