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Schengen sees biggest-ever enlargement

— PHOTO: Xinhua

BREAKING BARRIERS: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (left) and his Austrian counterpart Alfred Gusenbauer symbolically cut the gates at the Petrzalka-Berg border crossing to mark Slovakia’s Schengen entry at midnight on Thursday.

ZITTAU (Germany): The passport-free Schengen Area saw its biggest-ever enlargement on Friday as nine new European Union (E.U.) members began to implement the Schengen Agreement.

The nine countries are Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, all of which joined the E.U. on May 1, 2004, in the “big bang” of the E.U. enlargement.

Their entry marked the biggest ever enlargement of the Schengen zone, expanding the zone from 15 countries to 24.

Starting from midnight Friday, the nine countries officially opened their land and sea borders to the Schengen Area, and travellers were not required to show their passports when going through the border crossings.

At around 9 a.m. local time, a symbolic border-opening ceremony was held at a crossing near the German town of Zittau, which borders Poland and the Czech Republic.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek participated in the ceremony at the border crossing “Zittau Peace Road-Porajow.” One German and one Polish police officer jointly lifted the border barrier that divided the two countries, symbolising the opening of the border.

After the ceremony, the leaders took a bus to a Polish-Czech border crossing just a few hundred metres away.

In a symbolic move, Mr. Tusk and Mr. Topolanek cut with a saw the border bar dividing their countries.

Later in the day, as well as on Saturday, a series of border-opening ceremonies will be held in the Port of Tallinn, the border zone between Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. — Xinhua

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