If terrorism is to be discussed further during Arendalsuka, it is time that someone posed the obvious question: Why has the PST removed left-wing extremism entirely from the report over the past two years?

The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) registers increased network formation among extreme Islamists and more minors who are exposed to extreme Islamist ideology, writes NTB today.

Counter-terrorism chief Ane Mannsåker Roald is in Arendal to speak about extremism and radicalisation. The PST sees that young people can be radicalised more rapidly than previously, and that individuals support and accept violence on the basis of an extreme Islamist conviction.

– This applies in and of itself also to right-wing extremists, in that there are many minors who are exposed to that type of ideology. And common to both groups is that they consume a great deal of graphic violence online, says Roald.

As several point out in the comment fields: Why can the PST not speak of an increase in extreme Islamism without simultaneously drawing in right-wing extremism?

And what about left-wing extremism? Why is that never mentioned?

The answer is not difficult to see. The left in Norway will to a limited extent acknowledge that left-wing extremism exists. Therefore right-wing extremism must continually be elevated as a threat, while the Islamist threat is played down.

But worse is the fact that the PST has actually removed left-wing extremism from its threat assessments.

In both 2025 and 2026 left-wing extremism is completely absent as a separate threat category, even though it was previously part of the PST’s assessments.

Terrorism in Europe over 15 years

This summer I have worked on a survey of terrorist attacks in Europe, based on Europol’s annual TE-SAT reports. At the same time I have gone through the PST’s national threat assessments ten years back in time.

What I found is sufficiently striking that I wish to publish a shorter piece now, because extremism and radicalisation is a topic being discussed during Arendalsuka.

The report with the complete review of the PST’s assessments over the past ten years, together with Europol’s statistical material, will come later, when the survey is completed.

But here is the graph, based on Europol’s figures for terrorist attacks in Europe over the past 15 years.

The figures are difficult to explain away.

Europol registered 354 left-wing extremist/anarchist terrorist attacks in the period, against 43 right-wing extremist attacks. That means there were more than eight times as many left-wing extremist attacks as right-wing extremist ones.

But in Norway left-wing extremism apparently no longer exists.

The shift appears to have become properly clear from 2022. Left-wing extremism was given steadily less space in the reports, and thereafter disappeared entirely from 2025 onwards.

This occurs at the same time as Europol reports increasing left-wing extremist and anarchist terrorism. At the same time Norway has experienced an increase in confrontational and often violent left-wing extremist activism, particularly after 7 October 2023.

In several reports Europol has also registered an increasing willingness to use violence, attacks on infrastructure, politicians and other targets, as well as strong mobilisation around the Palestine issue and related questions.

Europol noted in the report from 2025 that the threat from returned left-wing extremist or anarchist foreign fighters who had joined one of the sides in the Russia–Ukraine conflict, or who had received military training in Syrian-Kurdish conflict areas, still persisted.

The narratives were the same and often included the conflict in Gaza. Antisemitic, anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist attitudes occurred in seven out of ten claims of responsibility.

Other recurring themes were antimilitarism, anticapitalism, anti-imperialism, solidarity with imprisoned anarchists, opposition to state repression and immigration control, support for the Kurdish cause as well as climate and environmental questions.

Violent extremists continued to maintain transnational networks and travel between member states. Certain countries registered a development towards more violent behaviour, including harder methods and an increasing willingness to regard particular persons as legitimate targets.

The PST reflects the public narrative

When one reads the latest reports from the PST, particularly the assessment for 2026, they reflect the public narrative about extremism and are clearly formulated in a manner that reinforces the narrative we are continually told about right-wing extremism and the threat it allegedly constitutes in Norway.

Another observation is that the PST has removed the word “left-wing extremism” entirely. In 2025 it was mentioned twice as a possible target for right-wing extremist terrorism. But in 2026 the word is changed to “left wing” and mentioned only twice. Again as a possible target for right-wing extremist terrorism. The PST writes:

Persons or groups that form part of the enemy image of right-wing extremists are the most exposed terror targets. This may be persons of non-Western appearance, Muslims, Jews, politicians, public officials, LGBT+ persons, traditional media and actors on the political left.

At the same time as the PST has removed left-wing extremism, the service has introduced a separate category called “anti-state extremism”. But it is not linked to left-wing extremism. It is linked to right-wing extremist thought. The PST writes:

Anti-state extremists do not share a common overarching ideology. They form groups based on conspiracy theories that promote distrust and alternative explanations. They thus differ from right-wing extremists and Islamist extremists, who have deeper ideological or religious roots. Anti-state ideas nevertheless partially overlap with right-wing extremist ideas.

That which could reasonably overlap with left-wing extremist or anarchist activity, distrust of the authorities, confrontation with the state and rejection of the political system, is thereby linked to right-wing extremism and conspiracy theories.

In Europe jihad is the greatest threat

Another matter that must be mentioned with regard to counter-terrorism chief Ane Mannsåker Roald’s statements during Arendalsuka this week is how right-wing extremism is equated with extreme Islamism in Norway.

This recurs in the PST’s reports in recent years. They assess it as equally probable that right-wing extremists will attempt to carry out terrorist attacks in Norway as that extreme Islamists will do so.

Europol, by contrast, is in no doubt about what constitutes the greatest threat. In the latest report and in Europol’s assessment of the future the conclusion is unambiguous on one central point: Jihadism remains the most probable source of the majority of terrorist attacks and arrests.

The organisation expects that low-threshold attacks will continue to constitute a persistent threat and possibly increase in scale because they require little planning.

Europol’s future assessment thus still places jihadism at the centre of the expected threat picture. The PST places right-wing extremism at the same level as jihadism.

If terrorism is to be discussed further during Arendalsuka for the rest of the week, I hope that someone poses the obvious question: Why has the PST removed left-wing extremism from the report?
The complete review and the figures will come at a later point in time.