"The establishment of the Schengen zone has been one of the greatest achievements" for the EU, which helped meet the principle of the free flow of people. This opinion was given in the report written by the Portuguese MEP Carlos Coelho and approved by the EU Parliament (468 votes for, 21 votes against, 34 abstained), which extends the Schengen zone from 21st December to another nine countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary. The Assembly thus "welcomes" the new member states joining the Schengen zone, praising "the huge efforts made by some of them to be ready and meet all criteria in such a short time". Then, they emphasise "the symbolic and historical importance" of this event "for putting an end to Europe’s old divisions". The report exhorts the new members "to maintain a high level of security" at their internal and external borders and to fulfil the criteria of the agreement: privacy, air borders, earth borders, police cooperation, Schengen information system, sea borders and visas.
