European Union interior ministers discussed it at a meeting in Luxembourg. Germany's Wolfgang Schauble opposed the scheme unlike his French counterpart Michele Alliot-Marie, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"I don't want the police to run the risk of being accused of voyeurism," Schauble told a press conference.

The German interior minister spoke of the threat to passengers' "dignity" as they appeared naked on screens while the scanner seeks out arms, explosives, drugs and other illicit items.

"If we manage to invent scanners that don't produce images then we could use them," he added.

Alliot-Marie also recognised the need "to respect everyone's rights" but added "we must use, with great determination, all advanced technology to fight the terrorists and major criminals, because they know perfectly well how to use it and are often a jump ahead of us," she stressed.

A body scanner has already been installed at Nice Airport and others, such as Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport are expected to follow suit.

Such systems are currently installed on a trial basis and the 27 EU nations are expected to pronounce on the body scanners before the end of the year.

EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani insisted on Tuesday that he had "not made any decision" on whether the new scanners would be endorsed, adding that people would not be forced to go through them.

"The body scanner will never be made obligatory. It's an alternative to hand searches," he underlined, adding that the images "would not be recorded and never stored" on a database.

Some people prefer the idea to the possible alternative of body searches, he said.

The final EU stance "should reflect the twin issues of protecting individual rights and collective security," said Alliot-Marie.

AFP