Brussels, 16/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - There is a constant threat of terrorism and measures should be taken to protect the population, but that does not mean that there is necessarily a contradiction between security and protection of privacy, said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström on Friday 16 September 2011 at a conference organised by the EU Institute of Security Studies (EUISS) and the United States' Mission to the EU on 'Beyond terrorism and privacy: A transatlantic agenda for global security?'. The conference examined cooperation between the United States and the EU on counter-terror issues and security and also looked at the protection of privacy and confidentiality and deciding what constitutes a threat these days. The questing of personal information arises whenever counter-terror is discussed, particularly when it comes to air travel, and new negotiations have started over the exchange of personal passenger information, known as PNR (Passenger Name Records) between the EU and the United States. Talking of the protection of personal information, the Commissioner said that a common approach would be found, despite the fact that the EU and the US take slightly different approaches at present. She said greater cooperation was required because the strategy had to change along with changes to the threat of terrorism and as the recent case in Norway had shown, there is now a trend for loners to carry out attacks, who are far more difficult to monitor than organised terror groups. She said that control over information and identifying individuals are the more effective means of combatting terrorism. The EU's anti-terror coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, said i twas clear that more information needed to be collected about people. (JK/transl.fl)