Europe divided over scanners
Source: Agencies |
January 8, 2010, Friday
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EUROPEAN nations were sharply divided yesterday over the need to install full-body scanners at their airports, with some EU members playing down the need for beefed-up security measures.
Italy has joined the United States, Britain and the Netherlands as nations who have announced plans to install the scanners following a Nigerian man's reported attempt to blow up a US airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
Washington is seeking enhanced security measures on all trans-Atlantic flights heading for the US. That's a huge task, however, since European airports carry thousands of passengers on over 800 flights a day across the North Atlantic.
But as EU aviation security experts met on the subject of scanners, Belgium's secretary of state for transport, Etiennne Schouppe, yesterday described such enhanced measures as "excessive," saying security requirements at European airports were already "strict enough."
Spain, too, has expressed skepticism about the need for body scanners, and the German and French governments remain uncommitted.
German Interior Ministry spokesman Stefan Paris said EU rules on flight safety need to be changed first before scanners can be used.
Germany's position is that three conditions must be satisfied before the scanners could be deployed, Paris said. These are that the scans will increase security, that they are not a health hazard, and that the scans do not harm individuals' rights.
Until now, the EU has allowed member states to decide whether to use body scanners at airport checkpoints. In 2008, the EU suspended work regulating the use of body scanners after the European Parliament demanded a more in-depth study of their impact on health and privacy.
Amsterdam's Schipol Airport has 15 of the scanners and the Dutch have vowed to buy 60 more. They are also installing software that shows a stylized human figure on the computer rather than the actual body image to address privacy concerns.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pressing for more scanners at London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, Manchester and other sites.
In Italy, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said yesterday that full body scanners will be installed at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport, Milan's Malpensa airport and in Venice within the next three months.
Italy has joined the United States, Britain and the Netherlands as nations who have announced plans to install the scanners following a Nigerian man's reported attempt to blow up a US airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
Washington is seeking enhanced security measures on all trans-Atlantic flights heading for the US. That's a huge task, however, since European airports carry thousands of passengers on over 800 flights a day across the North Atlantic.
But as EU aviation security experts met on the subject of scanners, Belgium's secretary of state for transport, Etiennne Schouppe, yesterday described such enhanced measures as "excessive," saying security requirements at European airports were already "strict enough."
Spain, too, has expressed skepticism about the need for body scanners, and the German and French governments remain uncommitted.
German Interior Ministry spokesman Stefan Paris said EU rules on flight safety need to be changed first before scanners can be used.
Germany's position is that three conditions must be satisfied before the scanners could be deployed, Paris said. These are that the scans will increase security, that they are not a health hazard, and that the scans do not harm individuals' rights.
Until now, the EU has allowed member states to decide whether to use body scanners at airport checkpoints. In 2008, the EU suspended work regulating the use of body scanners after the European Parliament demanded a more in-depth study of their impact on health and privacy.
Amsterdam's Schipol Airport has 15 of the scanners and the Dutch have vowed to buy 60 more. They are also installing software that shows a stylized human figure on the computer rather than the actual body image to address privacy concerns.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pressing for more scanners at London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, Manchester and other sites.
In Italy, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said yesterday that full body scanners will be installed at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport, Milan's Malpensa airport and in Venice within the next three months.
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