ITALY 'NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR EU DECISION ON BODY SCANNERS'

(ANSA) - Toledo, January 21 - Italy will go ahead with its plan to install body scanners in major airports even though a common position on the devices by the European Union has yet to firm up, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Thursday.

In Spain for a meeting on airport security between EU interior ministers and US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Maroni said Italy was ready to buy 15 of the scanners for use on a trial basis in airports in Rome, Venice and Milan.

''These security measures will be used by trained personal and with respect to passengers' health and privacy,'' Maroni said, responding to concerns that the revealing images generated by the body scanners could represent a violation of privacy.

''We understand that other EU members have different ideas about the scanners, but we've decided to go ahead with our experiment and see how they work,'' he said.

During the meeting Thursday, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba, who chaired the summit, said that a common EU position on the scanners would have to wait for a report by the European Commission (EC).

Also present, EC Justice and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot sad the report would assess the possible health risks and privacy issues surrounding the scanners ''to determine the best way to put this technology to use''.

Though some other EU members, such as France, have also expressed willingness to begin experimenting with body scanners, countries like Germany are more reluctant.

The European Parliament has also taken a dim view of the devices, resolving in 2008 that they violated passengers' privacy.

But Napolitano pressed her European colleagues to take the US's lead and move forward with the body scanners in order to ''prevent Al Qaida from carrying out it's clear intention of attacking more airplanes''.

After the failed Christmas Day bombing of a transatlantic flight over Detroit, the US announced it would install over 450 of the devices in airports around the country.

But the Barack Obama administration has also asked European nations to install body scanners in their own airports, or at least those with connections to the US.

The summit on Thursday concluded with a joint declaration vowing greater collaboration between the EU and US to improve airport security.