Europe’s probable new commissioner for transport Siim Kallas has criticised plans by some EU countries, including the Netherlands, to bring in full body scanners for plane users, Trouw reports on Friday.

Answering questions from European MPs, Kallas said body scanners did offer advanced technology for improving air safety but that ‘we first have to complete research into the legal and privacy aspects over the next few months.’
The Netherlands plans to introduce the scanners as soon as possible, following the attempt to blow up a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day.

Three weeks
Home affairs minister Guusje ter Horst said on December 30th that scanners for all flights to the US would be introduced within three weeks, once they had been fitted with new software to make them fully automated.
‘I support EU-wide rules about their introduction,’ Kallas told MEPs. ‘No single measure gives 100% security. Body scanners are not the solution for everything.’
Dutch Christian Democrat MEP Corien Wortmann told the paper she backed introducing body scanners for risky flights. ‘We need security information as well, but body scanners are certainly a part of the security set-up,’ she said.
Kallas’ appointment to the Commission still has to be approved by MEPs.