Kate and Gerry McCann have called for a Europe-wide system for tracking child abduction cases across borders.

The parents of Madeleine — missing for almost a year after disappearing from a holiday resort in Portugal— today urged Members of the European Parliament to sign a declaration to implement a US-style “amber alert” system to find abducted youngsters.

Mrs McCann told a meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels that if such a system had been in place when Madeleine went missing “the chances of recovering her would have been higher”.

She said: “We implore you to support our declaration. Please do not wait for another child and family to suffer as we have.”

Mr McCann said: “This is a very simple child alert system with almost no cost implications — who would not support such a system?”.

The couple also said that the onus should not fall on parents to alert the public of a child’s disappearance. “This system will help us achieve that,” he said.

Under the system, police and media responses would be co-ordinated across Europe. The McCanns said that the first hours after an abduction were "crucial" and that the system would allow for the quick dissemination of information across the Continent.

Mrs McCann said she still had hope that Madeleine was alive. “There’s absolutely no proof that anything bad has happened to her,” she said. “There is a good chance that Madeleine is still out there.”

They also said that discussions were taking place to carry out a reconstruction of Madeleine’s disappearance in Portugal, although they refused to say whether they would actually take part. “We certainly won’t be in Portugal on May 3,” Mr McCann said, referring to the anniversary of his daughter’s disappearance. That would be remembered in “a private way”, he said.

The couple heard from MEPs today that efforts two years ago to introduce the same missing child plan failed to get sufficient support to succeed.

Mr and Mrs McCann said that they remained hopeful that their high-profile campaign after the loss of Madeleine would help to galvanise the European Parliament and EU governments into giving their full backing to the scheme.

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