EU proposes anti-terror measures

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The European Commission has said it is drafting new Europe-wide measures to bolster the fight against terrorism, including sharing air passenger data.

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said that all states needed to co-operate more closely.

The measure is expected to require air passengers travelling into the EU to submit data for security agencies.

Mr Frattini said attacks recently foiled in the UK and a bomb in Yemen underlined the need for new steps.

He said he would propose a draft bill in October to create a European Passenger Name Record (PNR) system comparable to the one in use in the US.

A deal on sharing passenger data with the US was agreed last week, despite concerns within Europe about privacy issues.

"We do need to have a European PNR," he said.

No system

"Most terrorist plots involve home-grown, radicalised people that travel to and from other parts of the world, from Europe or to Europe."

Other proposals include creating a "rapid-alert" system for stolen explosives, a network of bomb disposal squads and making the spread of bomb-making instructions online a criminal offence.

"We will find a better way to discourage and to detect terrorists," Mr Frattini said.

The plans, he said, were urgently needed because the union lacks a system to tackle terrorism at a European level.