Brussels, 15/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - Unlike their counterparts with responsibility for justice, the transport ministers of the EU, who met in La Coruña on Friday 12 February for an informal meeting, do not appear to be opposed to the idea of European legislation on the introduction of body scanners to the airports of the EU. The common position could be adopted at the Transport Council of 24 June (quoted by the news agency AFP, Spanish Transport Minister José Blanco reiterated that the Council could "make a decision" after examining a report to be drafted by the European Commission by April). He added that the governments of the EU had agreed to adopt a common position on body scanners, as long as their use would comply with the protection of certain fundamental freedoms of European nationals. "Germany is not opposed to the use of new technologies. It has simply stated that before implementing the scanners, there needs to be a series of guarantees in place", Blanco said after the meeting, in response to a question put by a member of the press. He added that this position could under no circumstances be "interpreted as against the installation of the scanners". Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas, who also attended the meeting, indicated however that the position of the EU and the United States, which is pleading in favour of the use of this technology, was not unanimous. "Ensuring passenger safety is our joint interest (of the United States and the EU), but approaches are very different as regards many details", he said, also quoted by AFP. Speaking at a Debate at the European Parliament on Wednesday 10 February, Kallas said that the scanning technology was not a "panacea". He added that the failed attack of 25 December on the Amsterdam to Detroit flight demonstrated the effectiveness of existing safety standards within the EU, but not the effectiveness of intelligence. "Aviation remains a target for terrorists. We cannot ignore that. But the incident showed first of all the failures of intelligence - a failure to connect the dots", he said. (A.By./transl.fl)