Spain Wants A "Wide Consensus" In The EU On use of Full-Body Scanners

Spain’s Minister of Public Works, José Blanco, is in favour of the EU reaching a "wide consensus" on an agreement in the EU on air safety and the use of full-body scanners.

"The Spanish Presidency agrees with the Committee on the need for decisions to be made on this matter by general consensus. European citizens would not understand if we did not reach an agreement on such an important matter", the Spanish Minister told the Committee.

After the recent incident in Detroit (USA), José Blanco stated that the main responsibility is to improve security in airports using technology, achieving a maximum level of security, although "without infringing on citizen's rights" he added.

Issues related to security matters in transport will be the focus of the working meetings of the Informal Council of Ministers to be held on 12 and 13 February in the Spanish city of A Coruña.

He stated that a proposal is going to be shaped that will be presented to the European Commission and to European ministers before this meeting takes place.

As regards the possibility of allowing armed agents to be present on aeroplanes to guarantee security, an issues for debate in the United States, the Spanish Minister stated that Europe should make its own decisions.

The Spanish Presidency is going to promote the proposal from the Committee on the reform of European regulations on the investigation of air accidents and will go further to acknowledge passengers' rights to be informed when a scheduled flight is suspended or delayed.