Europe’s cowardly response to terror

It says much about the endemic moral cowardice of Europe that Emmanuel Macron is being hailed as the saviour of the continent. For what? For having the audacity to utter a single word: ‘Islamism’. In identifying the ideology behind the wave of brutal terrorism that has swept Europe this century, Macron has also shown more honesty than his predecessors in the Élysée. He is to be commended, too, for taking the Financial Times to task in their shameful attempt this week to traduce him and his nation.

Now he has an ally in Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz after Monday evening’s attack in Vienna that left four dead. Kurz, who says he has spoken to Macron about possible initiatives to tackle the Islamic extremists, told Germany’s Die Welt newspaper: ‘I hope we will see an end to this misunderstood tolerance and that all countries in Europe will finally realise how dangerous the ideology of political Islam is for our freedom and the European way of life.