EU is divided on use of body scanners

EUROPEAN nations were sharply divided yesterday over the need to install full-body scanners at European airports, with some EU members playing down the need for beefed-up security measures.

But the EU indicated it may force nations to comply.

After meeting in Brussels yesterday, EU aviation security experts released a statement saying the EU Commission may issue a binding regulation on imaging technology to reinforce passenger security, while at the same time addressing the conditions for using such technology, such as privacy, data protection and health issues.

Italy yesterday joined the United States, Britain and the Netherlands as nations that 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 transatlantic flights heading for the US. That’s a huge task, however, since European airports carry thousands of passengers on more than 800 flights a day across the North Atlantic route.

But Belgium’s secretary of state for transport, Etiennne Schouppe, described such enhanced measures as “excessive,” saying security requirements at European airports are already “strict enough.” Spain, too, has expressed scepticism.