WRITTEN QUESTION E-2736/01 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Maintenance of security at airports by public rather than private services.
Date: 2001-10-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Civil Aviation Conference, air transport, carriage of passengers, drafting of EU law, private sector, public authorities, transport safety, vocational training

C 134 E/88

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2002

(2002/C 134 E/090)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2736/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 October 2001)

Subject: Maintenance of security at airports by public rather than private services

1.
Is the Commission aware that, in the United States, in the aftermath of the use of passenger aircraft
as flying bombs on 11 September, a new debate has begun concerning the role of the public authorities in
providing security against terrorist attacks at airports by preventing people with terrorist intentions from
boarding aircraft, in which connection it is being urged that the police or military personnel assume a
more prominent role rather than allowing the public authorities to retain ultimate responsibility only on
paper for work performed by private security services?

2.
In which EU Member States are private rather than public security services used to secure airports
and/or aircraft? Are there Member States where this is not the case but which had plans for adopting this
approach?

3. Where private companies are used, what
the companies concerned from
economising on manpower in order to protect profit margins, with the result that ever smaller samples
come to be checked?

is done to prevent

4. Where private companies are used, what is done to prevent measures from being taken which are in
the commercial interest of airport enterprises (e.g. making shops accessible) or of airlines (accelerating the
admission of passengers to aircraft) but only to a lesser extent in the interests of passenger safety or the
safety of society as a whole?

Is it possible and desirable to take measures at EU level to increase the role of public services in

5.
aviation security and reduce that of private enterprise?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(18 December 2001)

1. Member States are responsible for aviation security. In nearly all Member States this responsibility is
vested in the Ministry of Transport whilst in two Member States it is vested in the Ministry of Justice and
Ministry for Home Affairs.

In reality aviation security is assured by a close and necessary co-operation between intelligence, police,
transport and aviation security services.

2.
It is true that the high profile security activities at airports (passenger screening, hand baggage
screening) have been contracted out to private security firms and personnel. However, supervision and
quality control remain with the national aviation security authorities in accordance with internationally
recognised standards and requirements. Member States are responsible for the organisation of the security
services and there is no possibility for the Community to interfere in this field.

3.
The minimum number of physical searches of passengers’ hand baggage is laid down in international
recommendations (European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC Document 30) and the current objective of
ECAC contracting States is to achieve 100 % screening of all ‘hold baggage’ by 31 December 2002. Latest
indication shows that within the Community this target will be largely achieved.

4.
To strengthen aviation security measures throughout the Community the Commission proposed
legislation (1) to ensure implementation of the above-mentioned objectives through the transposition into
the ECAC Document 30 recommendations and the establishment of a control
Community law of
mechanism to ensure their effective enforcement. This proposal
the need for
improvement in the recruitment techniques, training and quality control of such personnel highlighted in
the report of 16 October 2001 presented by the ad hoc group created by the Commission as requested by
the Council on 14 September.

takes into account

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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5. When the regulation will be adopted, all airlines and airports will be obliged to follow the
Community standards and would not be able to decide by their own on the balance between security and
facilitation measures. If they want to maintain an acceptable level of quality to their passengers and avoid
lengthy queue which could affect the image of air transport, they would have to accept to increase the
resources allocated to aviation security.

(1) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing common rules in the field

of civil aviation security COM(2001) 575 final of 10.10.2001.

(2002/C 134 E/091)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2742/01

by Jorge Moreira Da Silva (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Internalising the environmental costs of nuclear energy

(5 October 2001)

Given that:

A the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, which is come into force in 2002, will mean the
in the general weighting of

internalisation of environmental costs (in terms of global warming)
product prices;

A in the energy field, the application of the Kyoto Protocol will give renewable energies and nuclear
fuels (particularly coal and

energy a competitive advantage over energy produced from fossil
hydrocarbons);

A nuclear energy is not a sustainable energy source (although,

in global warming terms, it has less

impact than other energy sources do);

A if the sustainable development strategy launched in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 is to be carried out, all
(and not merely some) environmental costs need to be internalised in the general price-weighting of
all products as a matter of urgency,

I would ask the Commission what measures it intends to adopt so as to internalise the environmental costs
in determining the price of energy from nuclear power stations (i. e. the storing and management of
nuclear waste on the one hand, and on the other, the risk of radioactive pollution)?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(14 December 2001)

The Commission agrees that renewable and nuclear energies do not normally make any significant
contribution to global warming. The Green Paper ‘Towards a European Strategy for the security and
energy supply (1)’ estimates that in the year 2010, generating electricity using nuclear energy will help to
avoid over 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission in the European Union alone. The Green Paper
offers a global picture of the Community energy policy and highlights the inter-relation between the
various energy sources in terms of security of supply, competition, environment and fiscal considerations.
In the Green Paper, the Commission has also referred to the internalisation of costs linked to degradation
of the environment and the need to eliminate major disparities between Member States taxation.

Internalising the external costs of energy production and use is a strategic environmental objective.
However, there are considerable technical and methodological problems to overcome in evaluating these
external cost. An important source of information on this is the Commission’s ExterneE study, that was
launched in 1991 and reported earlier this year. This estimated that the average external costs for nuclear
was just below 0,4 Euro cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with 1,3 to 2,3 cents/kWh for gas and between
4,3 and 7,3 cents/kWh for oil and coal. Wind energy, with 0,1 to 0,2 cents/kWh had the smallest external
cost.