A visiting top official of the European Commission, the executive body of the 27-nation European Union, also said that radicalisation of society is the biggest threat--bigger than the al-Qaeda terrorists--Europe was facing now.
"Security cannot be achieved in isolation. Therefore, we are equally concerned about the terrorist threats that India faces, which in the past few years resulted in a number of attacks, most prominently the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 and July 2011", Stefano Manservisi, Director General for Home Affairs, said during a media interaction.
The EC official said security was a global issue and Europe and India have common interests in sharing experiences and enhancing cooperation between the two was very important.
He said the basic threat to Europe has not come from terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda but from radicalisation of societies, which are on stress, as it may lead to terrorism.
"Prevent terrorism and address radicalisation and recruitment. This is a domain of particular concern for EU and where we must work harder and more closely with a number of actors to prevent new attacks", he added.
Maintaining that Europe has been and still is exposed to terrorism and violent extremism, Manservisi said EU has been working with international partners like India to disrupt international crime networks which take a variety of forms: trafficking in human beings, drugs and firearms, money laundering.
Manservisi, who is on a three-day visit to India, has held meetings with key officials of Ministries of External Affairs, Home and Indian Overseas Affairs, besides CBI and other security agencies.
More From This Section
He said India is an important strategic partner of the EU and part of this partnership is incremental relations and discussions regarding migration and mobility which started in 2006.
The official said migration flows and shorter term mobility between EU and India are of increasing importance and bring mutual benefits as well as challenges.