Drafted by a French member of the European Parliament, a recent resolution aimed at tackling extremism within the EU has successfully passed with a majority vote.

The non-binding resolution proposed by French MEP Rachida Dati came after the deadly attacks in Paris on 13 November, with 548 MEPs backing the proposal, 110 voting against and 36 absented.

Some of the highlights include a proposal to establish an EU database of extremists, including a blacklist of jihadist and terrorist suspects. It would also, in very clear terms, agree on an EU-wide definition of ‘foreign fighters’ in order to identify them at Europe’s borders, as well as to legally control them on their entry to the EU.

Parliamentarians additionally passed a motion to combat the increase of violent extremism online, and also to separate radicalised inmates to stop the use of prisons as a breeding ground for the spread of extremism. MEPs also highlighted the role that intercultural dialogue can play in reversing marginalisation and promoting cross-cultural understanding and co-operation.

Metro Éireann strongly believes that the lack of such dialogue and the exclusion of disadvantaged people, especially immigrants, is one of the factors that have driven people to desperate measures, such as travelling to the Middle East to join terror groups like IS. For example, the French policy of assimilation, aimed at encouraging non-French people to behave like the French, has been blamed for current spate of extremism in that country. Yet traces of such mismatched and misguided policies exist in almost every single EU member state.

Only opening real dialogue with marginalised groups will go anyway towards combating homegrown terrorism.