mr president we are here to present a combined view on certain aspects in the fight against terrorism
my priority as transport commissioner is definitely the safety and security of passengers
this is a major priority for our common transport policy and this is always extremely important
the attempted terrorist attack on northwest airlines flight two hundred and fifty-three to detroit on twenty-five december has again confirmed the reality of the threat to civil aviation
i would like to stress that existing eu standards on aviation security were correctly implemented on twenty-five december at amsterdam schiphol airport
the incident showed first of all the failure of intelligence a failure to connect the dots
aviation remains a target for terrorists
we cannot ignore this fact
aviation security must therefore be guaranteed by all appropriate means in full compliance with fundamental rights
the travelling public the media and aviation stakeholders all legitimately ask us whether the existing security arrangements are good enough or whether we need to take further action
in this regard the new screening technologies the so-called body scanners are discussed everywhere today
regarding the use of body scanners at airports aviation security experts are of the opinion that these machines have better detection capacity than current screening equipment
some think that they are considerably better
some think that this is not such a big advance but how big the added value of these machines is to airport security and what the consequences are for health and privacy is not yet entirely clear today
as noted previously by parliament in two thousand and eight the use of body-imaging technology raises a number of questions notably in relation to privacy data protection and health
i intend to present to you in april a report on imaging technology and its use at eu airports
this report will address the questions raised in the european parliament resolution of two thousand and eight
we need to look at these questions seriously
we also need to make up our minds on whether these concerns are better addressed at national or european level
to my mind an eu framework would be better
i say this based on our experience of a common approach since nine eleven and with a view to the efficiency of the single market for aviation
an eu framework guarantees uniform standards in relation both to security and to respect for individual rights
finally i would like to underline that airport security is a much larger question than the introduction of a new screening technology
to fight terrorism targeting civil aviation we need a large variety of combined and coordinated measures intelligence profiling different search methods and international cooperation
as the minister just said terrorists develop
we must develop as well and body scanners are only one element in this variety
i look forward to your views and thank you for your attention
