Gijs de Vries
Gijs de Vries
Gijs M. de Vriesis a Dutch Democrats 66politician. He was deputy Interior Minister between 1998 and 2002, and was the European Union's anti-terrorism co-ordinator from 25 March 2004 to March 2007. As of September 2008, he was the chairman of the European Security Research and Innovation Forum...
NationalityDutch
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth22 February 1956
Gijs de Vries quotes about
information share combat
If you combat an international phenomenon, it is indispensable to share information internationally.
important force moderates
It's important that we work very closely with moderate Muslim forces locally, nationally and internationally.
fighting agency police
In the fight against terrorism, national agencies keep full control over their police forces, security and intelligence agencies and judicial authorities.
hands keys community
The key to tackling Islamist fundamentalism and terrorism from the Islamist community is in the hands of moderate Muslims.
ideas funny-travel standards
The idea is to have global standards. There is so much travel that if you just had a regional standard, it would probably ultimately have to be changed.
borders terrorism motivated
We are familiar with terrorism. But indiscriminate, cross-border, religiously motivated terrorism is new.
world majority violent
The violent radicals do not legitimately represent the overwhelming majority of the world's Muslims.
resistance
We're still stymied by the old stand-off between those who wish to fight terrorism and resistance fighters.
disrupted series several states
There is a series of sectors which could be severely disrupted by terrorist attacks, particularly if they were to happen in several member states simultaneously.
attraction europe freedom radical remain seen
I remain optimistic. What we've seen in Europe and the rest of the world is that freedom has a much stronger attraction than radical fundamentalism.
moderate strengthen
Our strategy should be to strengthen the hand of moderate Muslims.
draw failed mass strength terrorists trigger
Terrorists have failed to trigger mass conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe. We should draw strength from that fact.
against remain
We remain vulnerable. There is no such thing as 100 percent security against terrorism.
attacks war
Indiscriminate attacks on civilians ought, under all circumstances, to be illegal in war as in peacetime.