EU greenlights expansion of 'no borders' area on December 21
BRUSSELS (AFP) — European Union interior ministers approved Thursday the entry of nine new countries into Europe's passport-free Schengen area on December 21, freeing up travel and giving a boost to economic activity.
"The member states concerned are sufficiently prepared," the ministers said a document laying out conclusions of their talks in Brussels.
The move, seen as an early Christmas present, will bring an end to long queues of people and road freight at borders at a peak travel time, a problem which has grown into a priority since the countries joined the EU in 2004.
Sea and land border controls between the current 15 Schengen area nations and the nine -- Malta plus eight Central and East European countries -- will end after midnight on December 20.
Air travel is to be opened up from March 30.
Travellers will be able to visit the entire Schengen area, from Tallin in Estonia south to Lisbon in Portugal and east to Budapest, Hungary, with a single visa.
"It's a symbol to the new (EU) member states that they are no longer living behind the Iron Curtain," German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble told reporters, on the sidelines of the EU meeting.
As an indicator of what effect the move will have, a German official said that 83 million people crossed his country's border with Poland from January to September, while 91 million people crossed the German-Czech border.
At the moment the Schengen treaty, which abolished border checks between its members, counts all the oldest EU members except Britain and Ireland, plus non-EU nations Norway and Iceland.
The decision to expand it was taken following a detailed assessment carried out over two years.
The first of the two conditions needed for joining was met by the nine in early September when the countries plugged into an electronic database that allows authorities to swap details on wanted people, objects or vehicles.
For the second condition, concerning the security of their borders with non-EU countries, experts have over the last year inspected the controls and described them as "satisfying".
The European Parliament must also give its opinion on the entry of the nine -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia -- but this is considered a formality.
The ministers will then rubber stamp the decision in December.
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania and Switzerland, the latter which signed an agreement on its association with the Schengen bloc in 2004, are expected to fully join the border-free zone in coming years.
Apart from easing travel restrictions, the Schengen treaty improves cooperation between police forces, allowing hot-pursuit of criminals into a member country as well as cross-border surveillance of suspects.
