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.