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✎ EN EU To Postpone Expansion Of Schengen Border-free Zone

Discussion in 'Travel' started by Triple H, Sep 14, 2006.

  1. Triple H

    Triple H Addicted member

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    The European Union is to postpone the expansion of its Schengen border-free zone due to problems with its central information system, a European Commission spokesman said Monday.

    The delay means that the EU's ten new member states which joined the bloc in May 2004 cannot remove border posts and checks by autumn 2007, the spokesman said. He did not comment on a new timetable.

    The Schengen Agreement removes border posts and checks between its member states and a common "Schengen visa" allows access to the area. However, the treaty does not cover residency or work permits for non-EU nationals.

    Representatives of the EU's interior ministries last week revised the date for Schengen expansion because of "technical problems with the EU's central data information system," the spokesman said.

    Estonian officials have said that the new information system will not be up and running before June 2008 and would then need a further testing phase of three months. Tallinn hopes to join the Schengen zone in early 2009, officials said.

    Estonia, together with Baltic neighbours Latvia and Lithuania, had hoped to join the zone in late 2007. Schengen accession is seen as a key goal in all three states, both easing international transport and confirming their status as full members of the EU.

    The postponement is unlikely to cause much political fall-out in the three countries, however, since the responsibility is seen to lie with Brussels rather than with national governments.

    The Schengen zone was established by treaty in 1985.

    So far, 26 countries - including all EU members except Ireland and Britain, but including non-EU members Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland - have signed the agreement and 15 have implemented it.

    The ten countries which joined the EU in 2004 have all ratified the treaty, but have not yet implemented it. They are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus.

    Countries being admitted to the Schengen bloc have to demonstrate that their non-Schengen frontiers are secure.
     

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