LISBON ~ EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said this week he would propose new ways to monitor people crossing the bloc’s borders in an effort to stem illegal immigration and international crime.

During a meeting of EU interior ministers in Lisbon, Frattini floated a plan for each of the 27 European Union countries to store information about air passengers, like the widely criticized system in place in the United States.

Under an EU-US accord, passengers flying to the United States provide personal data such as credit card numbers and email addresses to the US Department of Homeland Security. The system has raised privacy concerns in Europe.