EU Pushes Ahead With Plans to Collect Data of Airline Passengers

Brdo pri Kranju, 25 January

EU home ministers expressed general support for plans to establish an EU-wide system of collection of data on airline passengers, Slovenian Interior Minister Dragutin Mate has told the press.

Speaking on the margins of an informal meeting of the ministers at Brdo pri Kranju on Friday, Mate said that the view at the meeting was that the passenger name record (PNR) system was "needed for an effective fight on terrorism and organised crime".
Mate confirmed that certain member states expressed concerns about how the system would impact civil liberties. He said an agreement was therefore reached to involve the European Parliament in the planning and execution stages.
European Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini was happy that any doubts about the usefulness of the system were dispelled at today's meeting, at which British Secretary for Home Affairs Jacqui Smith presented Britain's experience with its national PNR.
According to him, the aim of the EU-wide system is to avoid differences among the member states caused by the decision of some members to launch national PNR systems.
He pointed out that national systems could be bypassed by persons taking advantage of border-free travel in the EU's Schengen zone.
He said that the presentation by Smith demonstrated the usefulness of the system, but would not go into the details of examples of persons caught on the basis of the data contained in the British PNR.
Frattini also said he "was more than happy to address the civil liberty concerns" in planning the launch of the system.
Mate explained that Slovenia's role in the efforts to launch PNR would be to provide the framework for a comprehensive debate. He added that it was unlikely a decision on the system could be taken before the end of 2008.

EU Pushes Ahead With Plans to Collect Data of Airline Passengers

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