Brussels, 02/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is trying to get organised following the discovery of a number of booby-trapped parcels in Dubai, the United Kingdom and Greece. “We are considering our coordinated response to these events,” a source in the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council told EUROPE on Tuesday. Although it is likely that EU home affairs ministers, meeting on 8 November, will address this issue, “nothing has been decided yet,” the source said, noting that the matter also falls within the remit of transport ministers who are due to meet on 2 December. A preparatory meeting of member states' permanent representatives to the EU is scheduled for Friday. Even before any possible European response, the UK and France have already taken steps. In a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister David Cameron following a bilateral summit in London, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Tuesday that he would hold a meeting in Paris on Wednesday with all those responsible for security to take stock of terrorist threats. Cameron and Sarkozy described the terrorist threat in Europe as “extremely serious”. “We are on full alert. We are working with our allies - not just daily but hour by hour. We are exchanging information, sharing intelligence and trying to coordinate our responses,” Sarkozy said. Two booby-trapped parcels sent from Yemen and bound for the United States could have exploded when the aircraft were in flight had they not been intercepted in airports in Dubai and the UK before the weekend. The bombs, which bear all the hallmarks of Al-Qaida, were hidden in Hewlett Packard ink cartridges which were packed with pentaerythritol trinitrate (PETN) a highly explosive material. On Tuesday, German police also found a suspect package thought to contain this same explosive in mail addressed to Federal Chancellery in Berlin. The UK has now put a ban on passengers carrying ink cartridges weighing more than 500 grams in their hand luggage. Germany has announced the suspension of all direct passenger and cargo flights from Yemen. The Netherlands and Belgium have banned mail and freight delivery by air from Yemen. With effect from Saturday, France has banned air freight from Yemen. On Monday and Tuesday, Greek police discovered several booby-trapped parcels addressed to the embassies of Switzerland, Bulgaria, Russia, China, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, and a package addressed to the French president. It would not appear that those who sent these parcels have any links to Al-Qaida, but are thought to belong to a small extremist anarchist group in Greece. (B.C./transl.rt)