The Bureau of Counter-terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism in the State Department has released the latest report on the global situation for the year 2016. Read the overview on Europe and the assessment on Albania
EUROPE
Overview: Europe endured terrorist threats from a variety of sources in 2016, including foreign terrorist organizations operating out of Iraq and Syria, such as ISIS and al-Nusrah Front (al?Qa�ida�s affiliate in Syria), and from European foreign terrorist fighters who had returned to Europe to conduct attacks. In the face of increased military pressure in 2016, ISIS pursued mass?casualty terrorist attacks against European symbolic targets and public spaces. Various European Union (EU) member states reported a marked increase in the rate of returning foreign terrorist fighters from Syria and Iraq. Indeed, approximately 30 percent of foreign terrorist fighters from EU member states are believed to have returned, although the overall number of departed foreign terrorist fighters originating from Western European and Balkan countries declined significantly in 2016 from the previous year. Concurrently, violent extremist groups espousing left-wing and nationalist ideologies, such as the Turkey-based Revolutionary People�s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) and the Kurdistan Workers� Party (PKK), respectively, continued to operate within Europe.
By virtue of its location, the presence of international transport hubs on its territory, and its long border with Syria and Iraq, Turkey remained an important transit route for foreign terrorist fighters entering and departing the conflict areas. Turkey continued to deepen its cooperation with foreign terrorist fighter source countries to counter the threat, and expanded its �Banned from Entry List� to prevent travel into Turkey by nefarious actors. Risk Analysis Units continued to operate at major ports of entry and internal transit points to interdict potential foreign terrorist fighters. To maintain tighter physical control of its border with Syria, Turkey constructed 270 kilometers of concrete wall along the 911-kilometer Turkey-Syria border.
European countries contributed immensely to worldwide counterterrorism efforts in 2016. Thirty-nine European countries, the EU, and Lyon-based INTERPOL collaborated within the force-multiplying framework of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Thanks to such effort, the Coalition, which already had liberated Fallujah, Ramadi, and Tikrit, launched the military campaign to liberate Mosul and Raqqah. Correspondingly, European officials, along with civil society members, participated in counterterrorism and CVE policies and programs within multilateral and regional fora, such as the United Nations, the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Council of Europe.
The 2015 attacks in Paris and elsewhere galvanized the EU to increase traveler information sharing and agree to an EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) system. The EU Parliament and Council presidents on April 27, 2016 signed the Directive regulating the use of EU Passenger Name Record for the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of terrorist offenses and serious crimes. EU member states will have until May 2018 to fully apply the Directive package. Also in April, the European Commission issued a Communication on �Stronger and Smarter Information Systems for Borders and Security,� and the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council endorsed in June a �Roadmap to Enhance Information Exchange and Information Management Including Interoperability Solutions in the Justice and Home Affairs Area.� The Commission�s Communication provides a thorough review of existing European information systems and recommendations to improve them, while the Roadmap provides a comprehensive plan that identifies short, medium, and long-term actions required of member states to improve the cross-border exchange of information. In July, the European Commission presented a comprehensive set of regulatory amendments, known as the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive to help counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which are due for ratification in mid-2017.

ALBANIA
Overview: Albania was a strong supporter of counterterrorism efforts in 2016 and continued its participation in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, making significant donations of weapons and ammunition.
On November 4 and 5, a well-coordinated regional counterterrorism operation led to the arrests of four individuals in Albania. The operation disrupted a potential attack on the Albania-Israel World Cup qualifying soccer match, scheduled to take place in Shkoder on November 12. The individuals were charged with supporting ISIS financially and logistically, recruiting people on behalf of ISIS, and promoting hate speech.
Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Albania criminalizes terrorist acts; financing of terrorism; collection, transfer and concealment of funds that finance terrorism; conducting transactions with persons on the United Nations (UN) sanctions lists; recruiting and training people to commit terrorist acts; incitement of terrorist acts; and establishing, leading, and participating in terrorist organizations. In 2016, nine defendants were found guilty of charges related to these statutes and sentenced to seven to 18 years in prison. An appeals court in November decreased the sentences for five of the defendants, and prison terms now range from four-and-a-half to 18 years.
Albanian law enforcement has increased efforts to counter potential terrorist threats. The recently expanded Albanian State Police Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) has worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice�s (DOJ�s) International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) to identify requirements for equipment and training. As a result, the ATU has developed its own plans and programs for improving equipment, training, and development, and is currently renovating a new ATU facility. Through the Department of State Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, the ATU participated in training on interviewing terrorism suspects. Despite the scarcity of resources, the ATU also participated in several successful interdictions of known or suspected terrorists.
In cooperation with the European Union and with funding from the Department of State, ICITAP provided equipment and training to the Albanian government to build capacity to collect fingerprint data at all border crossing points. The information can be checked against a national database for wanted individuals in real time. This initiative has improved Albania�s ability to collect biometric data on selected individuals at border crossings.
DOJ�s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training Program (OPDAT), funded by the Department of State, continued to provide mentorship, assistance, and training to prosecutors, law enforcement officials, financial investigators, intelligence analysts, and judges from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia, who work on foreign terrorist fighter and terrorism-related cases through its Balkan Regional Counterterrorism program located in Tirana.
Corruption combined with a poorly functioning judicial system continued to hinder Albania�s law enforcement efforts at all levels.
Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Albania is a member of the Council of Europe�s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body. The General Directorate for the Prevention on Money Laundering, Albania�s financial intelligence unit, is a member of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
Since June 2012, Albania has been working with the FATF and MONEYVAL to address identified weaknesses in its anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. As a result, Albania has made major improvements to its legal framework for identifying, tracing, and freezing terrorist assets; enhanced international co-operation; extended customer due diligence; and required the filing of suspicious transaction reports and currency transaction reports.
Countering Violent Extremism: In 2015, the Government of Albania drafted and adopted a national strategy to counter violent extremism. In 2016, the Government of Albania appointed a National Coordinator for Countering Violent Extremism, who is charged with overseeing the implementation of the national strategy. The Government of Albania co-hosted a regional table top exercise in September 2016 with the Partnership for Peace Consortium Counter Terrorism Working Group and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The event brought together regional partners for two days of workshops and collaboration on addressing radicalization to violence and foreign terrorist fighter recruitment. The Government of Albania co-hosted an event in New York, �Countering Violent Extremism through Education,� to promote the role that education has in fostering tolerance and inclusion among youth. The Government of Albania developed a pilot program to train teachers to implement a curriculum on religious tolerance in schools.
International and Regional Cooperation: Albania is a member of the UN, the OSCE, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Regional Cooperation Council, the Council of Europe, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Albanian criminal justice actors participated regularly in various regional associations, conferences, and other counterterrorism information sharing exchanges.