Berlin, 31/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Following the attacks which shook Belgium on 22 March, the European Commission is trying to avoid “overreacting” and is favouring a “proportionate approach”, Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said on Thursday 31 March.
“We must seriously examine the security elements, but I have to say that aviation security in Europe is the best in the world”, Bulc told a group of journalists at the presentation of the 2015 road safety statistics (see other article). Therefore, she stressed, although the security aspects must, of course, be taken into account, sight must not be lost of the fact that the measures proposed must be proportionate. Similarly, when asked whether the Commission and the member states plan to take their inspiration from the particularly stringent Israeli model (see EUROPE 11517), the spokesperson for the Commission on transport issues, Jakub Adamowicz, replied that the Commission favoured a proportionate approach, thereby seeming to reject Israel's example. This position is similar to the one adopted by the institution following the foiled attacks on the Thalys, in 2015 (see EUROPE 11373).
A European source told us that it is true that, like questions related to internal railway security, airport security before the control zones is not under European jurisdiction, but national jurisdiction. Therefore, certain countries, like France (see EUROPE 11519), have taken security measures in the “soft areas”, such as airport entrance halls, in the wake of the Belgian attacks.
Avsec, the group that brings together the member states' aviation security experts, met the same day in Amsterdam in an extraordinary session to take stock of the issue and make any necessary recommendations. According to another European source, however, nothing is to be expected from this meeting, “as there is nothing on the table”. Specific proposals are expected to be made at the next meeting of the group, on 15 and 16 June of this year.
A item on airport security has been added to the agenda of the informal Transport Council to take place on 14 April in Amsterdam, over a working lunch. The Transport Council of June will also discuss the question of airport security. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)