EU discusses Madeleine alert system

EU justice ministers are due to approve plans for closer co-operation between national authorities when a child is snatched and is thought likely to be taken across a European border.

The issue was spotlighted after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal last year and the idea of a comprehensive alert network has been championed by her parents Kate and Gerry.

Last July the European Parliament responded with a call supporting their plea for Europe-wide action.

Now EU governments are acknowledging the scale of the problem by pledging to step up talks on streamlining their differing national child alert systems for faster responses in cross-border cases.

UK junior justice minister Lord Bach will put the Government's name to proposals being seen as a move towards bolstering Europe's existing patchwork of partial national child abduction monitoring systems.

Closer co-operation and cross-border data-sharing on child abductions is on the cards - but that still falls short of the uniform system the McCanns were shown on a trip to America and which they hope to see in the EU.

EU officials pointed to difficulties of harmonising the many different national and - in Germany - regional alert arrangements currently in operation across Europe.

In France a comprehensive system is closest to the US model, enabling the authorities to flash up electronic missing child information on French motorway signboards within 30 minutes of a confirmed case of abduction.

Belgium operates a similar but less well-established system, while the UK system relies on efficient communications between 53 police forces, charities and volunteer groups.