French take terror threats very seriously: Poll

People in France are far more worried about the possibility of terror attacks than the Germans, a new poll shows, as the Socialist government struggles to cope with the aftermaths of last November's deadly attacks in Paris.

The poll, conducted by the French Institute for Public Opinions (IFOP), suggested that nearly half of the French citizens see terrorist threat against their country as “very serious.”

Only one percent of the respondents to the poll, which included 1,008 individuals from across France, believed the threat to be “not serious at all” while 49 percent called it "quite serious."

The poll also surveyed a population of 989 German citizens, concluding that only 22 percent of the Germans see the threat of a terrorist attack against their country as "very serious," much less than the 46 percent of the French respondents exposed to the same question. Moreover, 64 percent of the German interviewees said the threat would be "quite serious" while 13 and 1 percent called it respectively "quite serious" and "not serious at all."

The poll comes more than five months after a series of shootings and explosions in Paris claimed 130 lives. The Takfiri group Daesh, which is based in Iraq and Syria but has members from European countries, claimed responsibility for the carnage. In March, the terrorist group launched high-profile attacks on civilians in neighboring Belgium, killing scores.

A state of emergency has been in force in France, something the Western European nation has not seen for decades. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week that the government plans to extend the measure for another two months.

The surge of violence in the Middle East and the spread of terrorists attacks by the Daesh Takfiri group to European shores has badly marred the public trust about the efficiency of security apparatus in those countries.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Russian Public Opinion Research Center (FOM) suggests that Russians are also divided about the threat of a major terror attack in their country, but a considerable majority think that the country's police and military could successfully thwart threats.

The survey, which involved 1,000 respondents, said 43 percent fear that Russia could be the victim of high-profile terrorist attacks in the next six months. However, 64 percent said the attacks could be prevented thanks to the government's toughness on terrorist threats.

Russia has been carrying out an air campaign against militants in Syria since the end of September 2015. Officials said at the time that the attacks, which came at the request of the Syrian government, were also a pre-emptive measure against the return of more than 2,000 Russian nationals who have joined terror groups in the Arab country.

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