"The families, relatives and friends who live on opposite sides of a frontier will now be able to see each other more easily. The eternal queues at the frontiers will disappear. The frontier regions will grow together, since it will be easier to move from one region to the next". These are the factual examples made by the spokespersons of the EU Commission to explain what is going to happen from now on, with the extension of the Schengen zone. Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary have thus entered the zone that provides free circulation to the EU citizens. The president of the EU Executive, José Manuel Barroso, explains that, with such event, "we can freely travel between the 24 countries of the Schengen zone without having to be checked at internal land and sea borders, from Portugal to Poland, from Greece to Finland". "I wish to congratulate he adds the 9 new Schengen countries on the work done. Together we have overcome border checks as so many artificial obstacles to peace, freedom and unity in Europe, laying the grounds for more security". Symbolic ceremonies of the "pulling down of the borders" took place last night in many border regions. (continued)
