Vienna - With celebrations at the Austro-Hungarian and
Italian-Slovenian borders, the European Union on Saturday concluded a
number of events to mark the enlargement of the Schengen zone to nine
further countries.
The enlargement extends the EU's free travel zone to more than 400
million people in 24 countries, abolishing borders to many former
communist states 17 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
At the Hegyeshalom-Nickelsdorf border station between Austria and
Hungary, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed the new
Schengen members.
'We have great expectations that the united Europe will work.
Peace, freedom and democracy are important,' Barroso said.
Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyucsany remembered the historical
importance of the Austro-Hungarian border, where the Iron Curtain
marked the continent's division.
'Freedom and democracy have to be preserved. Hungary is ready to
protect Europe and keep it secure, because freedom also means
responsibility,' Gyurcsany said.
The ceremony was also attended by current EU President Jose
Socrates of Portugal, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and
Austria's Interior Minister Guenther Platter, who reiterated
Austria's position that free travel must go hand in hand with the
best security possible.
'The opening of the borders is an end to the division of Europe.
This is a big day for Austria, for all new Schengen member states,
and especially for Europe,' Platter said.
The first Schengen agreement was signed in 1985 and included
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portgual, Spain and Sweden, as well as
non-EU members Iceland and Norway.
The enlargement triggered fears among the population in Austria
and Germany of rising crime rates after the end of border checks,
leading to demands for increased security and police presence.
Despite the open borders, busy traffic on the last shopping
weekend before Christmas led to several kilometres of tailbacks in
the direction towards Hungary.
Near Trieste, in the Italian-Slovenian border town of Gorizia,
which had been divided since the end of the Second World War, Italian
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato welcomed the fall of the barriers.
'The creation of a border in Gorizia was one of the most
depressing things in the history of Italy,' he said during a meeting
with the town's mayor, Ettore Romoli.
The Treaty of Paris after the War cemented the division of
Gorizia.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann meanwhile demanded a
speedy extension of transport networks after the fall of the border
controls.
The German federal government finally had to 'make sure that
motorways and railway lines between Germany, the Czech Republic and
Poland would be extended. There's a lot of catching up to do,'
Hermann told the Passauer Neue Presse daily's Saturday edition.
The EU countries which are part of the Schengen agreement no
longer have passport controls.
Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also due to join the Schengen
Zone in November next year.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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