Head of European airports association: ‘More Europe, not less’ is needed to face terrorism threats

Thomson Reuters

More European cooperation, not less, is needed for Europe to face up to security threats, the head of airports association ACI Europe said on Tuesday with an eye to Britain's referendum on European Union membership on Thursday.

European airport security has come under scrutiny after suicide bombers killed 16 people at Brussels airport in March. In Britain, national security has become part of the debate ahead of the country's In/Out vote on the EU.

Prime Minister David Cameron says Britain would be safer inside the EU. Brexit campaigners argue that greater control over immigration would reduce the threat, and that intelligence-sharing would not be harmed by withdrawing from the EU.

Augustin de Romanet, president of ACI Europe and CEO of airport operator Aeroports de Paris, said Europe needed to focus on better intelligence cooperation and a more effective sharing of information.

We need "more Europe, not less of it," he said in a statement, adding that meeting security challenges could be harder for both Britain and the EU in the event of a Brexit.

ACI Europe has said that additional checks at entrances to airport terminals are not the answer to improving security.

"Efficient, robust security is not and has never been about stopping terrorists once they are at an airport," de Romanet said. "It is about detecting and stopping them before they ever reach an airport." (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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