” ” ” “"From now on, the European citizens will be able to freely travel through twenty-four countries. The older ones know this is not to be taken for granted": the German chancellor Angela Merkel attended today, with the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, one of the ceremonies that symbolically pulled down the barriers between the old and the new members of the Schengen zone. Tusk lingered on the meaning of freedom and bringing peoples together in Europe, partly through the innovations introduced by the Schengen agreement. The ceremony held in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic took place between Zittau and Porajow. Participants included the Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, the current president of the EU Council José Socrates and the president of the EU Commission, José Manuel Barroso. Symbolic barriers and walls were also pulled down between Gorizia (Italy) and Nova Gorica (Slovenia), the city that "was cut into two" by the "Iron Curtain" after the Second World War.” “
