EU Approves Biggest Schengen Enlargement

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | December 7, 2007, Friday // 00:00

The border and passport-free Schengen zone of the European Union is to see its largest expansion in two weeks time, as EU interior ministers approved the move on Thursday.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, which all joined the EU in 2004, are to be part of the area as of December 21.

The abolition of inner border control will regard road communications at first. Passport checks will be performed only at airports, where they are to be canceled in March 2008.

The border-free area was established in the Luxembourg village of Schengen where in 1985 the Benelux countries, Germany, and France signed an agreement on the gradual canceling of checks at their common borders.

At the moment, the Schengen area includes 13 EU states plus two countries outside the EU - Norway and Iceland.

Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus are yet to meet necessary requirements to join the zone.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Bulgaria in EU » Be a reporter: Write and send your article

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria