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EU Commission Suggests Unification of Security Measures in European Airports | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Police patrol Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 in London | REUTERS


Brussels-Sir Julian King, the senior British diplomat picked to be the UK’s last European Commissioner, has received a positive feedback from members of partisan blocs in the European Parliament after a three-hour discussion among members of Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs Committee in the Union.

Some political blocs in the parliament, like communists, democrats, and conservatives have considered that the new candidate has provided positive thoughts, which have paved the road for positive results in the upcoming session on Thursday. The commissioner has previously announced the candidature of Sir King for its membership to succeed Jonathan Hill, who resigned after results of the British referendum that led to Brexit.

During the parliament’s questioning session, King said he belongs to a culture that believes in cooperative work, therefore, he has pledged to cooperate with all the parties in the Union; he has also asserted that he will make efforts to reach a new cooperation level among member states concerning the war against terrorism.

He also said that the European approach must be inclusive and flexible and must provide protection for the youth calling for extremism. King has refused to answer a question on his country’s position from the proposed matters and said that he is a candidate for European commissioner, and that he represents the executive body of the Union.

“I’m not here to present of defend the positions of the British Government,” he said.

Senior UK Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope said the discussion session showed that King has new ideas that will lead to improved cooperation among police and intelligence bodies to face the growing terrorist threat against Europe. He added that the meeting with the candidate in the parliamentary committee was good and proved that he knows what he wants and what to do. Kirkhope stated that his party will recommend supporting him during the election.

These statements came few days after the proposal of the Commissioner calling to unify procedures to authorize security equipment and examination in European airports. The Commission sees this proposal as a step toward enhancing competitiveness in the industry of equipment and devices in different European markets.

The European Commission depends on the procedures’ unification to raise the security level in the European airports. Dimitris Avramopoulos, European commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, said that the commission’s proposal will help enhance the security of European citizens and saw that the unification of the security measures will contribute to raising security level in European airports.

The Commission has asserted that its proposal only includes airport-related procedures and not land and sea transport measures. Avramopoulos considered that the European response to recent terrorist attacks came swiftly and that the security-related schedule of the EU included the establishment of a center to combat terrorism, which will improve the efficiency of the joint European efforts in fighting terror; the European official has called the union’s member states to support the new center to succeed in its mission.