Oct 1, 2007, 9:36 GMT
Lisbon - Europe Union government ministers held talks in Lisbon on Monday on bold and controversial plans to use new technology and share travellers' data to foil terrorist attacks and detect illegal migrants.
The proposals put forward by the EU's justice, freedom and security commissioner, Franco Frattini, come in the wake of a series of terrorism scares in several member states, including Germany, Britain and Denmark.
But they were nevertheless expected to spark a lively debate in Lisbon among EU justice and interior ministers concerned by the need to preserve their citizens' privacy.
'We will be listening to Frattini's proposals,' said Luc Frieden, Luxembourg's justice minister and one of the doyens of such meetings. 'The technical instruments are already in place, and I don't think we need to have more regulations (to put them in place),' he added.
Frattini's proposals include a European Passenger Name Record (PNR) and a register of foreigners entering or leaving the bloc that would ultimately include details such as their photograph, fingerprints and even a scan of the retina of their eyes.
Under the proposals, law-enforcement officials in all member states would be allowed to share such data with colleagues across the EU.
'The PNR is a new proposal dealing with the security of our citizens and is designed to prevent dangerous people flying into Europe from outside Europe,' Frattini told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Frattini also wants to shut down internet sites that provide instructions on how to assemble and handle explosives.
Other issues on the agenda of the two-day informal meeting taking place in Lisbon include child protection and the state of play of Schengen, the 1985 agreement that abolished systematic border controls among participating member states.
Portugal, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, also wants ministers to agree on a new EU website that would include a list of missing children.
The initiative is believed to have been inspired by the international media frenzy sparked by Madeleine McCann, the British four-year-old who went missing from the Portuguese holiday resort of the Algarve on May 3.
In a separate meeting Monday, officials from Portugal and neighbouring Spain agreed to help each other crack down on members of ETA, the Basque separatist group, amid concerns that some of its members may be hiding in Portugal.
Your Talkback on this Story