BRUSSELS (AP) – The family homes of the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks and one of the suicide bombers stand only a few blocks apart in the Belgian capital’s Molenbeek neighborhood. After a string of attacks in recent years linked to its grimy streets in central Brussels, a key question arises: Why Belgium?
The tiny nation renowned for beer, chocolates and the comic book hero Tintin is now suddenly infamous for Islamic extremism – and the easy availability of illegal weapons.
Belgium has a central location in Europe; few border controls; a common language with prime jihadist target France; and a political divide between French and Dutch speakers that has long created bureaucratic disarray in justice and security.
From the prime minister down, there is widespread acknowledgment of a complicated and disjointed national structure that hampers the fight against extremism. “We have to do more and we have to do better,” Prime Minister Charles Michel told legislators on Thursday, as he announced a slew of fresh measures to fight Islamic extremism.
For years, there have been calls for more funds to boost the ranks of judges and police, but progress has been slow as rival political camps bickered and austerity measures set in. Meanwhile, the splintering of municipal authority in Brussels and judicial authority nationwide means there’s little sense of who’s in charge of what in security matters.