The Sept. 10 attack, and Lindh’s subsequent death some 13 hours later, saddened Europe and bitterly displayed the reality that politicians will increasingly have to consider distancing themselves from their electorate. It was telling that, in a country which prides itself for having an open society, Lindh was unaccompanied by bodyguards.

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was murdered days before the euro referendum

“Europe has lost even more of its innocence,” a shaken Margot Wallstrom, Sweden's representative to the European Union, was quoted as saying at a briefing in Brussels the day after the attack.
Sweden was supposed to be a safe haven in Europe, far away from the political violence that tears through other parts of the world. But the Lindh murder, along with political assassinations in the Netherlands, Italy and Serbia, have forced Europe to reflect deeply on the effects this kind of violence will have on its elected representatives.
Throughout Scandinavia, where high security is generally frowned upon, politicians are often seen walking around unguarded or riding public transportation – living similar lives to their electorate. This accessibility ultimately made Lindh vulnerable, but is part of what Swedes value as the basis and symbol of a free society.
However, despite the disbelief expressed after the attack, there were plenty of warning signs that Sweden was not as innocent as it looked.
Lindh’s murder has brought back painful and haunting memories of the 1986 assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, who himself insisted on a public life devoid of bodyguards and high security. Palme was shot dead as he walked home from the movies, accompanied only by his wife.
And yet, seventeen years later, Sweden has grudgingly held onto to its principle of openness - only the prime minister and king now receive protection in public.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry has since disclosed that Lindh had received six threatening letters and emails, signals that were ignored by security services, and even unread by the minister herself.
Lindh was also one of Sweden’s most visible proponents of the controversial euro debate, in a country where the majority was opposed. The brutality of Lindh’s murder, and the ease with which the attacker reached his victim, has forced Sweden’s security police to decide whether they can afford to let this tradition of openness continue. It is a dilemma that has reverberated throughout the rest of Europe.
Only last year in the Netherlands, sensationalist right wing politician Pim Fortuyn was gunned down days before a national election. Fortuyn’s controversial anti-immigration platform had received growing support in the Netherlands, a country renown for tolerance and acceptance. Like Sweden, the country was supposed to be free from such dangers, but this peaceful climate was also deceiving. Similarly, Fortuyn had received threatening letters and emails, bomb threats and even had two, urine-laced cream pies thrown in his face by protesters. And like Palme, Fortuyn also disliked having bodyguards because he had felt it would limit his personal freedom.
“The ice-cold shock of these events is that this violence is happening in the Netherlands and Sweden, which are rich, welfare societies,” says András Bozóki, associate professor of political science at Central European University. “And this is a new phenomenon: the most peaceful countries in Europe are no longer exceptions to violence anymore.
“These are societies with long traditions of political consensus, but this psychology is somewhat artificial since there is no channel for people to discuss controversial political views in detail. If politics were more open in these societies, then maybe we would not have seen these violent eruptions.”

The assassinations of Fortuyn and Lindh appear to be isolated incidents, but the killing of Marco Biagi, a legal adviser to Italy’s labor ministry, showed that Europe is not beyond deliberate politically motivated violence. Before his death, Biagi, who was helping introduce labor reforms, pleaded to no avail to have his police protection restored.
He was shot dead last year by a group claiming to be an offshoot of the left-wing revolutionary Red Brigades, which had also been blamed for the assassination of another top Italian labor ministry adviser in 1999. While the nationalist and separatist violence that tore apart Ireland, Spain, Greece and Italy over the past few decades has been largely quelled, it has left behind a lingering political hostility that Europe has yet to fully settle.
What affect these waves of violence will have on the security of Europe’s politicians remains to be seen. But the shocking assassination of Sweden’s Foreign Minister has not changed the lifestyle of her Hungarian counterpart. Hungary’s Foreign Minster László Kovács, who attended the Lindh funeral, uses security protection when acting in governmental duties, but remains unguarded during his personal time, says Foreign Ministry spokesman Tamás Tóth.
While Hungary has been relatively free from political violence since the 1956 revolution, some ripples have been felt as of late. The beating of the Károly Szász, the president of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority (PSZAF) last June for apparent political reasons, should be a reminder to Hungary that it is not an exception to the rule.

Foreign Minister László Kovács’ security habits have not changed since the Lindh murder

Most Swedish political analysts have said they expect security to continue to be tightened for politicians over the next few months, but just like the Palme case, business will return to normal. Dramatic changes were predicted in Dutch politics as well, but little has since changed. Ultimately, Europe’s politicians will have to struggle with the values of accessibly and openness versus their own personal protection and safety.
“In this age of media democracy, television images are so dominant and pictures can be more influential than words, creating strong emotions towards politicians,” says Bozóki, “It is probably a good thing to have some sort of protection, even if it makes the political class more alienated and separated to the rest of society.”

Politically motivated assassinations in Europe
Aside from Anna Lindh and Pim Fortuyn, political assassinations are nothing new to Europe; going as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, from Agamemnon to Julius Caesar. Anarchist-inspired assassinations during the turn of the 19th century led to the deaths of French President Marie François Sadi Carnot and Humbert I, the King of Italy. The most dramatic assassination was the shooting of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 by a Serb nationalist, which triggered World War I. Other European leaders to be murdered include Ireland’s Michael Collins in 1922 and Spain’s Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco in 1973.