ערליין #לאַפּטאָפּבאַן: מעפּ זוכט דרינגלעך דערקלערונג פון European קאַמישאַן

Sophie In’t Veld MEP, First Vice-President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament has today written to the European Commission asking for clarification regarding the announced ban on laptops for passengers travelling from Europe to the US, ahead of a high-level meeting tomorrow between officials from the European Commission and US authorities.

Any ban is likely to have massive practical implications for people travelling to the US from European Union countries, as well as for airports and carriers.

Commenting from Strasbourg, Sophie In’t Veld, a member of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee said:

“We urgently need to know whether this airline laptop ban has been discussed and agreed by the EU, what information has been shared with the EU and whether the European Commission agrees there are grounds for imposing a laptop ban”

“In 2006, a temporary ban on liquids in hand luggage was introduced, to be lifted when all airports had installed screening equipment. Experts had acknowledged that the ban was not particularly useful. It was supposed to be repealed in 2013, but it hasn't, and there are no signs of a repeal any time soon. Is the ban on laptops just the latest in the series of ineffective but disruptive measures?”

“The US has forced the EU into adopting countless security measures by threatening to withdraw visa liberalisation for Europeans and we have meekly accepted this kind of blackmail by adopting a wide range of airport security measures. We have to know if the Trump administration intends to impose a laptop ban on the EU”

“There is an ongoing spat over non-reciprocity of visa liberalisation by the US of certain EU countries.We must urgently get clarification of the connection between visa liberalisation and airport security measures”

אַדווערטייזמאַנט

“It is surprising that Commissioners Avramopoulos and Bulc will meet with the US authorities tomorrow. The appropriate person would be Commissioner King, who is in charge of security and counter terrorism. This is not a transports issue, nor a home affairs issue, but an issue of security and fighting terrorism.”

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