Prague, May 10 (CTK) – The Czech Interior Ministry and the state-owned Cesky Aeroholding aviation group will submit a plan for further improvement of security at the Vaclav Havel Airport Prague to the National Security Council, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said yesterday.
“The government wants to support all steps for the meeting of maximum security standards for the passengers and visitors,” Sobotka said at the airport where he, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (both Social Democrats, CSSD) and Prague Mayor Adriana Krnacova (ANO) inspected the implementation of the security measures that the government approved in January 2015.
“The terrorist attacks, especially the latest ones in Brussels, seem to me a strong warning,” Sobotka said.
The highest security standards available should be achieved, he said.
Sixteen months ago, the Czech cabinet earmarked 187 million crowns for new security measures at the Prague airport, including facial recognition technology.
Chovanec said the last gaps in the security system are being filled. The measures would be introduced within a year or even half a year to guarantee security, but in such a way that they bother the airport visitors as little as possible, he said.
The National Security Council should receive a report on the steps taken in the last few years and on the proposals for further measures to be adopted. Cesky Aeroholding is supervised by the Finance Ministry and it administers the operation of the Vaclav Havel Airport Prague.
On March 22, three suicide bombers from the Islamic State militant group killed 32 people at Brussels airport and metro station. In reaction, heavily armed soldiers and policemen immediately began to patrol Czech airports, train stations, shopping centres and other areas in cities.
The Czech opposition parties called for the withdrawal of the armed patrols from the streets in the past few weeks. Chovanec said he would propose this only after a three-day European conference of Interpol ends in Prague on May 20.
($1=23.717 crowns)
