Italy has fewer radical Islamists than rest of Europe, officials say

Rome (dpa) - There are fewer radicalized Islamists in Italy than in the rest of Europe, despite the country lacking an effective terrorism prevention strategy, government officials said Thursday."The numbers are lower than in other countries," Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni told a joint press conference with Interior Minister Marco Minniti and Lorenzo Vidino, the head of an expert commission on radicalization and extremism in Italy."We‘re not seeing the same levels or intensity of Islamist radicalism as in North European countries," Vidino said. This is because the majority of Muslims in Italy are first-generation, unlike in other European countries where second- and third-generation youth are being drawn by extremist propaganda, Vidino said.He pointed out that France has documented some 1,400 foreign fighters, compared to 1,000 in Germany, 650 in Belgium and "just over 100" in Italy.The commission found that traditional repressive methods are not enough to combat Islamist terrorism. Instead Italy must invest in prevention measures and deradicalizing foreign fighters and youth who come to the attention of social services in what Vidino called a "pre-criminal phase"."This would be a medium- to long-term investment," Vidino said.The interior minister said that "terror malware" is an issue because youth are lured into extremist networks on the internet."The battle cannot be limited to a single country," Minniti said. "We must build a protective network that must be the result of international cooperation between governments and major providers".