Brussels, 22/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 21 June, during an exchange of views with Matthias Ruete, the director general of DG Mobility and Transport at the European Commission, the European Parliament transport committee remained perplex over the question of introducing body scanners in European airports. This was despite the fact that an analysis report was adopted last week by the college of commissioners, who dismissed most of the Parliament's fears regarding the use of this new technology (EUROPE 10160). “Why do we go to so much trouble to apply such hi-tech methods” in some airports when “all one has to do to reach the aircraft is climb over the fencing”, commented Artur Zasada of Poland. He went on to say that, at the Brussels airport, “in just one hour, I found two ways of entry with a bomb”. Eva Lichtenberger (Greens/EFA, Austria) said: “I want standards that limit” the impact of scanners on the fundamental rights and health of passengers, but “I do not agree with being under an obligation to use this technology”. On the other hand, Dutch Conservative Peter van Dalen asked why the Commission did not recommend the compulsory use of scanning technology in airports “where there are over one million passengers”. Mathieu Grosch (EPP, Belgium) sought to ascertain whether the Commission already had technical indications on mutual recognition or the storage of data of persons scanned. According to Saïd El Khadraoui (S&D, Belgium), the “European approach is to be recommended”, while Gesine Meissner (ALDE, Germany) took the view that scanners would be better than being frisked. Like most of her colleagues, she nonetheless remarked that a number of questions would remain unanswered, especially those on funding, luggage weight, and refusals (for example, refusal to go through screening for cultural reasons). According to Ruete, the Commission is likely to make proposals in the context of the framework regulation (Regulation 300/2008) on aviation security, aimed at approving the use of scanners as one of the means authorised for security screening in European airports. Questions relating to health as well as to fundamental rights will be “part of the debate on measures for applying” this technology, he pointed out, before going on to inform MEPs that the Commission was counting on them to “define a framework that would prevent terrorists from getting through and would also comply with rules on human dignity”. (A.By./transl.jl)