A long list of blunders and missed opportunities by Belgian intelligence services in the run-up to the Brussels attacks has raised urgent questions across Europe about whether they could have prevented the carnage. The suicide bombers repeatedly slipped through the fingers of Belgian authorities -- with one of them remaining free to attack despite having been deported by Turkey as a jihadist just months earlier. Poor coordination in a dysfunctional political system divided between French and Flemish speakers and a failure to infiltrate networks of jihadists have contributed to a string of failures that has caused international concern.
But some experts have warned against singling out Belgium, saying similar situations could happen in other countries as extremist cells become increasingly skilled at flying under the radar. Nevertheless, criticisms that Belgium rejected back in November when it emerged that the Paris attacks were planned there have now begun to hit home, with two ministers offering to resign over "errors" in handling the Brussels attackers.
Belgium, a country of 11 million people with an estimated 400,000 Muslims, has the highest number of foreign fighters per capita in the European Union, with around 500 who have left for Syria and Iraq. But time and time again the authorities have appeared unable to tackle the growing jihadist networks.
Yves Trotignon, a former counter-terrorism analyst with France's DGSE external security services, said it is difficult for Belgium and other democracies to stop all people determined to blow themselves up at soft targets. "Belgium is not a police state, it is not North Korea," he said. In any case, Belgium is in many ways a microcosm of fractured intelligence cooperation across the 28-nation European Union, whose headquarters are in Brussels, officials said. "It is still only five member states which provide 90 percent of the information," an EU diplomat said. EU interior ministers were meeting in Brussels on Thursday to find ways to improve coordination.
