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The Schengen area will begin to expand since 2008

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Travel Articles >> Locations >> Europe

The Ministers of the Interior of 27 countries of the European Union have approved the schedule of the expansion of Schengen area at the conference in Brussels, as Die Presse reports.

Thus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta will open their borders to the citizens of the fifteen former Schengen countries since January 1-st, 2008. The decision doesn’t apply to Cyprus, because first of all the new airport in Larnaka, which meets the requirements of the Schengen agreement, must be opened there; it is likely to happen by the beginning of 2009, as the Austrian newspaper notes. (The full text is on InoPressa.ru site)

According to Gunter Platter, the Minister of the Interior of Austria, the countries “from the very heart of Europe” – the Princedom of Liechtenstein and Switzerland - will enter the Schengen area since the end of 2008 as well. Christoph Blocher, the Minister of Justice of Switzerland, declared in Brussels the day before that the country would join the Schengen and Dublin agreements of the European Union; it will probably occur on November 1-st, 2008. Bulgaria and Romania that were the last to enter the EU will be able to join the Schengen agreement not earlier than in 2011.

The entry into Schengen entails the abolition of the frontier control between the countries participating in the agreement that will facilitate the migration between these states.

In spite of the fact that the Ministers of the Interior of the EU have approved the political will to the expansion of the Schengen area, it isn’t given the green light yet, as Die Presse mentions. The ministers will make the final decision after they get the report of the expert group, which is expected to be gotten before the beginning of October. The experts will check, whether all the claimants upon the entry into the Schengen area (without Liechtenstein and Switzerland so far) have the sufficient technical equipment and trained staff in order to ensure the protection of the outer boundary of the EU in the best way.

Franco Frattini, the Commissioner of the Interior of the EU, expects a positive decision from the expert group. He reckons that the final decision will be made before the beginning of November and considers even the pre-term opening of the borders – even before Christmas – possible.

At the entry into Schengen, the new members will have to scotch the illegal immigration and also the contraband of the “living goods” from Northern Africa and the East. Poland, for example, must stop the stream of the illegal immigrants and of the contraband from Byelorussia and from Ukraine, as the edition indicates. The entry of all the posts of the frontier control into the informational computer system SIS is an important condition for the new Schengen countries. It grants the access to all the data about physical persons and transport facilities that are wanted.

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Article Submitted On: September 23, 2007