Europe's Border Free Zone Expands (Passport-Free European Zone Expands Alert)

BBC News ^ | 12/21/2007 | BBC News

[goldstategop]

Celebrations have been held after midnight to mark nine new states joining a European border-free zone.

The Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel across the area, now embraces 24 nations.

Some 2,000 people celebrated with the EU anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and fireworks in the town of Frankfurt on Oder at Germany's border with Poland.

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia joined the zone.

See map of Schengen area

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish PM Donald Tusk will mark the event on Friday morning in the town of Zittau, near the point where Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic meet.

Crime wave fears

They will be joined by Czech PM Mirek Topolanek and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

On Thursday a checkpoint between Austria and Slovakia was dismantled in one of several events marking the enlargement from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic.

Other ceremonies took place in Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic states.

Initially the lifting of internal controls involves just land and sea borders, but that will be extended to airports at the end of March 2008.

Mr Gusenbauer welcomed the extension of the Schengen zone, rejecting fears that it might create a crime wave in Austria.

The European Commission says that one billion euros (£720m) has been spent on beefing up security on the new EU frontiers, including the establishing of missions along the Polish and Slovak borders.

Mr Fico said: "From midnight tonight you can travel 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Tallinn in Estonia to Lisbon in Portugal without any border controls."

Although the enlargement allows passport-free travel throughout the area, travellers can be asked to carry documents by any of the countries concerned.

Vast database

For non-EU nationals, a Schengen visa allows travel across all the participating countries.

Thirteen existing EU states have already been part of the Schengen accord as well as two non-EU countries, Norway and Iceland.

The UK and Ireland are not involved in the zone - which embraces 400m people - but they have signed up to agreements on security.

A significant element of the Schengen agreement is the Schengen Information Service (SIS) which features an enormous database in the French city of Strasbourg.

The SIS database enables police in any Schengen state to find out whether a suspect has been involved in any kind of crime across the EU.

[goldstategop]

Europe has come a long way since the last World Wars and the Iron Curtain. The Schengen Zone expanded to include new East and Central European countries as members. More Europeans will able to move between nations in the Zone without being required to carry a passport. Whether that expansion is another step closer to the emergence of a "United States Of Europe" is open to later debate.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[goldstategop]

This is also terrific news if you're an American businessperson or tourist. No more need to laboriously apply for a separate visa to every country you want to do business in or travel for sightseeing. One Schengen visa will be valid in any of the 24 European countries under the system.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[garyhope]

Terrorists and criminals free to roam and make mischief.

[goldstategop]

Schengen has a central database in Strasbourg. The police of every member country will have access to it. If you're a criminal or terrorist thinking the new Europe means you get around scot-free, the same information sharing means that the police in every country know who you are. There's freedom of movement around the EU but the trade-off is the disappearance of the cloak of national anonymity.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[iopscusa]

Hope this works well but I have doubts that the central database in Strasbourg will hinder too many dedicated Terroist or similar Criminals!

[avid]

The new bordercountries aren’t yet attached to the central database. This is said to happen sometime in the second half of 2008. Their border guards got the latest state of the art equipment though (funded by the EU).

I don’t have a good feeling about all this. Probably a border guard in eastern Poland or so doesn’t earn enough not to be corruptible.

[hinckley buzzard]

The EU's Schengen border on the east will be about as porous as our southern border with Mexico, and just as attractive to hordes of semi-literate vagrants from the vastness of the eurasian interior. Expect within a year to be reading about the new "illegal immigrant" problems of the regions on the eastern frontier.