EU Schengen agreement expanded
The Schengen agreement expands to include 24 countries
The EU reform treaty will mark the last attempt to reform the structures of the European Union for some time, the prime minister said today. |  |
Friday, 21, Dec 2007 12:00
The EU's Schengen agreement allowing passport-free travel for non-EU citizens has been expanded to include nine more countries from today.
Twenty-four of the EU's 27 member states are now participants in the agreement after the new entrants, mainly Baltic and eastern European countries, lifted travel restrictions.
After sawing through a barrier on Slovakia's border with Austria, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico said: "From midnight tonight you can travel 4,000km from Tallinn in Estonia to Lisbon in Portugal without any border controls."
The UK is now one of just three countries continuing to maintain passport control on its borders.
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