Move to tighten air cargo security

One option agreed at talks between EU home affairs ministers in Brussels includes drawing up a blacklist of high-risk airports outside the EU where security standards are deemed inadequate to detect the new breed of package bombs.

The experts will report back to joint talks between EU justice and transport ministers next month in the hope of improving co-ordination between national air security services.

But EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas has already warned ministers that merely stepping up existing security checks on air cargo would not be enough.

"Simply adding more layers of cargo screening would be hard to implement, and cause great operational difficulties.

"We need an approach based on risk assessment, better integrated with intelligence, and we need to use a range of control methods in combination."

There is concern that more "joined-up" thinking is needed in some member states between the aviation and security sectors, even though a system of EU-wide air cargo security has been in place since 2003, setting minimum common levels of surveillance.

Yesterday's talks focused on the next steps to boost the EU-wide security system for cargo and mail, working closely with the US.

The German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere led calls for special controls to be imposed on suspect parcels particularly originating from Yemen and destined for specific ethnic organisations in Europe.

He said current national measures monitoring air cargo were clearly not effective enough.

Germany, the UK and France have already banned all air freight from

Yemen in the wake of last month's parcel bombs intercepted in Dubai and the UK en route from Dubai to American addresses.

The UK was represented at the meeting by junior Home Office minister James Brokenshire.