Europe’s institutions have marked the first European Day of the Victims of Terrorism.

The March 11 date coincides with the attacks on Madrid last year. Some 500 high school students in Brussels took part in one of the events at the European Parliament. “Suffering from terrorist acts affects not only the victims but also their families and all of society. Because the fear stays. It’s there after each attack and it touches all of us.” All the speeces appealed to the listeners hearts and minds: “Terrorism is not and never will be the right answer to anything; but there might be more than one way in which we can work towards its elimination.” Spanish former interior minister Jaime Mayor Oreja also spoke: “The first thing to do is to become conscious of how serious the problem is; the second is to use every intrument possible in a state of law to defeat it, and the third is keep society mobilised so as not to leave it up to the politicians alone to fight terrorism, that the people too will fight the great battle.” In an internal paper marking the Madrid anniversary, the EU Commission said a purely law enforcement focus on catching terrorists was not enough.

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