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EU urges member states to pay for increased European airport security

2010-04-22 17:33 BJT

STRASBOURG, April 21 (Xinhua) -- At the European Parliament plenary session this week in Strasbourg, European Parliament Members (MEPs) on the Transport Committee said that member states instead of passengers should pay for aviation security measures that go beyond the European Union's requirements.

Increased security methods such as body scanners will be expensive to implement, and currently member states may apply their own rules on how airport security charges are shared, MEPs pointed out during the meeting.

Now, most airport authorities across the EU pass on the costs to airlines, which then pass them on to passengers. Luxembourg and a handful of others are the exception, with governments shouldering the costs.

A majority of MEPs urged national governments to bear the cost of any security measures that are "more stringent" than basic EU standards, a source close to the European Council told Xinhua.

Member states would remain free to decide how to share the costs of the basic measures already covered by existing EU rules (metal detectors, sniffer dogs, body searches) but would be required to pay if they chose to introduce body scanners, which are not yet listed as a common EU aviation security method.

European lawmakers argue that governments, rather than passengers, should pay for national security measures that aim to protect citizens from acts of terrorism.

Additionally, they also called for better price transparency, insisting that passengers should be able to know exactly what percentage of the fare will pay for airport security.

Editor: Zhang Ning | Source: Xinhua