Several Slovak politicians and security experts reacted to the Barcelona attack on Thursday evening. The terrorist attack raised questions mainly about the issue of security.
According to Prime Minister Robert Fico, Europe and Slovakia have to first and foremost provide their population with security. "We can never rule out the murderous actions of individuals, but it is always better and more effective to fight such threats together," wrote Fico on his social network profile. Similarly to the Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Council Andrej Danko wants the European Union to pay more attention to the security question. "Spain is yet another victim of terrorism which is spreading fear through Europe. Such fear must not break and divide us. On the contrary, we have to stick together, and follow our values and traditions," added Danko.
Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák also responded to the incident by saying that the culprits must be punished. Lajčák sent a telegraph to the Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis, condemning the acts. "We are unequivocally against any form of terrorism. Moreover, we are determined to support specific measures which help in the fight against this global threat," wrote Lajčák. President Andrej Kiska described the news about the Barcelona attack as sad, calling it "a cowardly attack against innocent people".
According to security analyst Juraj Zábojník, such attacks are very effective for terrorists because they occur in public spaces with many people involved. Referring to the style of the attack, Zábojník stated for TASR that "it is a typical case which we have seen many times already. It will come in the future again - the only question is when and where." Another security expert, Milan Žitný, links the attack to the ex-speaker of the so-called Islamic State, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani. "It is he who started this philosophy. He ordered the followers of his ideology around the world to carry out attacks in their respective countries - not only in Syria or Iraq," explained Žitný.
