A West Midlands MEP has backed the creation of a blacklist of airlines that are considered too unsafe to fly within the 25-nation European Union.

Following a spate of accidents earlier this year - four fatal crashes in August alone, killing more than 330 people worldwide - the EU assembly agreed to a compromise bill hammered out with the EU's executive commission.

The new rules will enter into force at the start of 2006, with EU member states telling the commission which airlines are banned from operating in their territory.

It will then draw up the blacklist based on common criteria for banning airlines.

Britain, France and Belgium have already published the names of carriers blacklisted due to poor safety records.

Those lists do not currently transfer to neighbouring EU states.

Conservative Euro MP for the West Midlands Philip Bushill-Matthews said: "Until now, only a handful of European countries had any sort of blacklist and each country's list was different. "

An EU transport ministers' meeting on December 5 must approve the plan for it to become law.

Britain has blacklisted airlines from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and Tajikistan.

It has also denied permits to Air Mauritanie and Thai airline Phuket Airlines due to safety concerns.