The German government is pushing for a massive expansion of cargo inspections and threatening to create a blacklist that would identify airports with lax inspection procedures.

 

The German government's proposals also include targeting cargo from countries like Yemen for special inspections. A bill that would revise the existing aviation safety law was scheduled to be introduced into the German parliament in the summer of 2011. But now the coalition government in Berlin plans to modify parts of the law by the end of this year. "If any changes or amendments to the law are necessary, we will make them as quickly as possible," says Transportation Minister Peter Ramsauer, a member of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU).

 

It "cannot be that passengers who have been searched and scanned several times are sitting in an aircraft while hazardous cargo that hasn't been checked is in the cargo hold below," says Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberg, a member of the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), the junior partner in Merkel's coalition government. She also includes a dig at de Maizière: "It would have been better to invest time and energy in the inspection of cargo instead of new developments like the full-body scanner, which is not only questionable from a technical standpoint but also raises constitutional (privacy) concerns."