http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/06/europe/union.php
By Stephen Castle
Published: November 6, 2007
BRUSSELS: Frontier posts are to be dismantled across Eastern Europe and passport checks scrapped as the European Union prepares to extend its free travel zone to the borders of Ukraine and Belarus.
European justice and interior ministers are preparing to agree Thursday that eight ex-Communist nations plus Malta are ready to join Continental Europe's Schengen system, which does away with internal passport controls.
From the Baltics to Budapest, lines at border points will be consigned to history on Dec. 21, in time to help the thousands traveling for Christmas. Next March, airports will apply the same rules, allowing in passengers from most other European nations without checking their papers.In Estonia, a failure to retain border guards prompted officials to raise questions about the country's "capability to guarantee a high level of border checks in the current circumstances." Airports at Brno, Vilnius, Riga, Ljubljana and Bratislava had to be revisited before being deemed satisfactory.
Currently, 13 EU member states participate fully in Schengen: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. Norway and Iceland, who are not in the EU, are also members.
Originally the hope had been to admit the nine new nations last January. But ministers decided to make the new countries wait until 2009 when the Schengen zone was due to be equipped with an updated information system capable of transferring biometric data. The information exchange system is a central element of Schengen because it is designed to help law enforcement agencies compensate for the loss of border controls.
Finally, in September, a decision was made to admit the new countries to the old information exchange system until it can be updated - clearing their path to Schengen membership this year