Terror alerts frustrate EU lawmaker

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BRUSSELS, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Washington issuing broad-based terror alerts for the European community does little to address national concerns, a Belgian lawmaker said.

A travel alert issued Oct. 3 by the U.S. State Department advised U.S. citizens of "potential terrorist attacks in Europe."

Acting Belgian Interior Minister Annemie Turtelboom said that such a broad proclamation wasn't very helpful, the EUobserver reports.

"The Americans issued a travel warning to their citizens to be vigilant if they travel in Europe, irrespective if it is Paris or London or my little village, everything was the same," the minister was quoted as saying. "To put it in short, this doesn't work."

Turtelboom went on to complain that while Washington was concerned about its citizens abroad, many members of the European community failed to follow up on the threat alerts.

"Member states are sharing intelligence, this is not an issue," she said. "But when the U.S. is issuing a travel alert for the whole of Europe, we don't have a mechanism to react or to make our communication in the same way. So then it's 27 answers in a different way."

The alert from Washington didn't mention a specific country, though Germany and France later emerged as possible targets.