Helsinki, Finland: The EU, Finnish, president announced on Friday that it would convene a meeting of EU experts on aviation security and counter-terrorism in Brussels after British authorities thwarted a suspected plot to blow up planes. Kari Rajamaki, Finland's interior minister, and the EU Commission's Vice-President Franco Frattini, responsible for home affairs in the European Union, decided that the meeting should be held next week.
"The aim is that experts will go through the situation in aviation security. Are the regulations in place? Are communications, both on EU and national level synchronised? Are there bottlenecks which should be solved on the union level?" Finnish State Secretary, Kari Salmi, stated.
On Friday, Britain named 19 people suspected of an Islamist plot to blow up transatlantic airliners and ordered their assets frozen. Two dozen suspects were arrested on Thursday.
U.S. officials said suspected suicide bombers were only days from simultaneous attacks on up to 10 aircraft flying from Britain to the United States, raising the spectre of strikes to rival the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Finland added that it also planned, after the experts' conference, to arrange a meeting of ministers responsible for internal security to discuss further measures.
The meeting would be attended by the ministers of the interior from Finland and Germany, which holds the next EU presidency, Commissioner Frattini and Home Secretary, John Reid. Other ministers may also attend.
State Secretary Salmi said the exact dates of the meetings were not yet decided. |
