Europe Features

BACKGROUND: Political crime vs madness - Europe mulls Oslo attacks

Jul 26, 2011, 15:30 GMT

Candles and flowers laid on the shoreline opposite to Utoya Island, Norway, 26 July 2011. EPA/JOERG CARSTENSEN

Moscow/Vienna/Rome/Prague - The brutal double attack in Oslo has sparked a discussion across Europe about the kind of political climate that might have led to terrorism suspect Anders Behring Breivik's actions.

While much of the debate centres on right-wing ideologies, some see Breivik as a psychopath who would have committed murders in any case, even without his political background.

RUSSIA: Media focus on Breivik's view that Europe is threatened by an Islamist 'conquest.' The tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda drew parallels to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, noting that his racial ideology has many adherents in Russia today. 'Breivik has fulfilled the secret wishes of some of his Russian followers,' the paper commented.

AUSTRIA: As a debate erupts about the massacre's intellectual roots, journalists and political experts point to the Freedom Party (FPOe) and its anti-Islamic stance.

The FPOe published a cartoon pamphlet last year that showed Turks impaling children's heads during the 1683 siege of Vienna, and the party has produced an online game in which players shoot down minarets.

In his 'manifesto,' Breivik mentioned his Austrian 'brothers and sisters' and described the Turkish siege.

'If the incitement last long enough, then there will be people who will act on it,' political scientist Thomas Schmidinger was quoted as saying by Austrian press agency APA.

Party chief Heinz-Christian Strache reacted by saying he was shocked that some were trying to use the Norway attacks for their own political ends.

ITALY: The prevailing explanation in the media is that Breivik was a lone actor. 'It would be absurd to allege that when the murderer used a bomb and an automatic rifle, he was expressing ideas of leading European politicians,' wrote the left-wing liberal daily La Repubblica. However, the newspaper acknowledged that extremist ideas such as those of Breivik's exist in Europe.

The far-right Lega Nord party did not fully discount the attacker's views. EU parliamentarian Mario Borghezio condemned the massacre on a radio programme but went on to say that '100 per cent of Breivik's ideas are correct, some are even excellent.'

NETHERLANDS: The discussion centres on the Party for Freedom (PVV), whose leader Geert Wilders condemned the Norwegian attacks and called the perpetrator a 'madman,' while denying that his Islam-critical speeches had anything to do with the incident.

'I am disgusted by the fact that the perpetrator refers to me and to the PVV in his manifesto,' Wilders said.

POLAND: The left-wing party SLD called on the Warsaw government to step up the fight against extreme right-wing groups by closing their internet sites.

The newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza wrote that the attack 'should be a warning mainly to extreme right-wing parties and organizations, as Breivik made full use of their ideology,' pointing to the English Defence League, the Dutch PVV, the Sweden Democrats and the True Finns.

FRANCE: The debate centres on the Front National. The anti-racism initiative Mrap and a group of leading Socialists suggested the party's xenophobia had helped prepare the ground for the terrorism in Oslo.

The Front National rejected the idea that it has been abetting terrorism.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg denounced the massacre as the acts of a mentally disturbed individual. But he added that extremist aggression could be observed in regions with a significant level of immigration from culturally different countries.

The business paper Hospodarske Noviny disagreed: 'Everything we learn about Breivik proves that he would murder even if there was not a single Muslim immigrant in Europe.'

HUNGARY: The chair of the Hungarian parliament's National Security Committee, Agnes Vadai, warned of the risk of home-grown terrorists with a similar agenda, the state news agency MTI reported.

'It is quite certain that there are similarly thinking people in Hungary. The question is whether there is a possibility that such thoughts could be turned to action,' the Socialist politician told reporters.

Vadai called for a probe of a possible 'Hungarian strand' of the case by Hungary's secret services and the Anti-Terrorism Centre.

Breivik mentioned recent visits to Hungary in his manifesto, which also mentions several Hungarian far-right groups, including the parliamentary nationalist party Jobbik.

Jobbik leader Gabor Vona denied any links and described the 'slaughter' in Norway as a crime against humanity. He criticized 'some Hungarian media' for seeking to link his party with the alleged perpetrator.

The leader of the nationalist 64 Counties Movement, Laszlo Toroczkai, said he received an email sent by Breivik before the attacks, but that he only read it afterwards and it contained no warning of his plans.