Ariddia
20-12-2007, 21:31
Well, not quite. And not entirely. But:
On Dec. 21, the border between Slovakia and Ukraine will become the new easterly limit of the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.
Slovakia and Austria on Thursday launched ceremonies to extend the European Union's passport-free Schengen zone to nine mainly ex-East bloc countries seeking to shed their communist pasts.
Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico cut down the frontier barrier between their two countries at the Berg/Petrzalka crossing point to start three days of commemorations for the landmark change.
The addition of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia to the Schengen Treaty zone will take the number of countries involved to 24 with a total population of 400 million.
The expansion from Friday will lift border controls between the former communist states of eastern Europe and their Western neighbours and bring down internal controls in a zone stretching from Spain to Estonia.
[...] Fico added: "From midnight tonight, you can travel 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from Tallinn in Estonia to Lisbon in Portugal without any border controls."
"When people go to Bratislava in 20 to 30 years, they will ask where the border was here at all," said Austrian leader Gusenbauer.
[...] Britain and Ireland have not joined Schengen and new EU members Bulgaria and Romania are not yet allowed in.
The frontier change has not been without opposition in the existing members.
[...] The expansion has taken years of preparation, with newcomers obliged to join the Schengen Information System (SIS), which provides police and customs officers with information about people, vehicles or goods.
The 15 older signatories to the 1985 treaty were: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
(link (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20071220-eu-border-slovakia-ukraine-eastern-outpost-schengen-zone.html))
On Dec. 21, the border between Slovakia and Ukraine will become the new easterly limit of the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.
Slovakia and Austria on Thursday launched ceremonies to extend the European Union's passport-free Schengen zone to nine mainly ex-East bloc countries seeking to shed their communist pasts.
Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico cut down the frontier barrier between their two countries at the Berg/Petrzalka crossing point to start three days of commemorations for the landmark change.
The addition of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia to the Schengen Treaty zone will take the number of countries involved to 24 with a total population of 400 million.
The expansion from Friday will lift border controls between the former communist states of eastern Europe and their Western neighbours and bring down internal controls in a zone stretching from Spain to Estonia.
[...] Fico added: "From midnight tonight, you can travel 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from Tallinn in Estonia to Lisbon in Portugal without any border controls."
"When people go to Bratislava in 20 to 30 years, they will ask where the border was here at all," said Austrian leader Gusenbauer.
[...] Britain and Ireland have not joined Schengen and new EU members Bulgaria and Romania are not yet allowed in.
The frontier change has not been without opposition in the existing members.
[...] The expansion has taken years of preparation, with newcomers obliged to join the Schengen Information System (SIS), which provides police and customs officers with information about people, vehicles or goods.
The 15 older signatories to the 1985 treaty were: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
(link (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20071220-eu-border-slovakia-ukraine-eastern-outpost-schengen-zone.html))