“National measures are not very effective,” he said at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels on Monday. “If this is going to be more expensive, then it might be a little more expensive, there is no security for free.”

The Telegraph’s Bruno Waterfield writes that following Germany’s demand for action, EU and national officials will set up a task force amid disagreements over how to set up a blacklist of postal dispatchers or airports considered to be a high risk and how to share intelligence in order to order special checks on freight coming from listed locations, such as Yemen.

British officials have welcomed Germany’s call to “coordinate” aviation security measures but have refused to share counter-terrorist intelligence.

Last month, authorities intercepted two al Qaeda parcel bombs in Britain and Dubai that had been sent from Yemen and carried on passenger planes.

Amid German claims that a British intelligence tip off had not been passed on, one device passed undetected through a transfer at Cologne-Bonn Airport and was later discovered at East Midlands Airport. The bomb had a remote-control device enabling it to blow up the plane mid-air.

Several countries, including the United States, Germany, Britain, and France, have temporarily banned all air freight from Yemen.

The failed al Qaeda attempts were followed last week, by a spate of small bombs mailed in Greece to embassies and political leaders, including Angela Merkel, German chancellor.

Up to 60 percent of parcels and air mail is sent via passenger planes, with security arrangements varying among countries, carrier companies and airports.