The countries that joined the EU in 2004 would join the Schengen free movement of people area by the end of this year. For these countries, this new membership is an additional confirmation for their European belonging. For those remaining outside the EU and Schengen area, but struggling to be invited, however, this may look like erecting a new iron curtain across the continent.

Most former Soviet bloc countries that joined the EU in 2004 will be invited to join the Schengen zone of free movement of people. By the end of this year citizens of these new EU members will be able to travel without passing through airports' passport control to and from other Schengen member-states. By the spring of 2008, this liberal regime of movement will apply also to those traveling by land. The official decision for the enlargement of the Schengen zone is due to fall this November. The first happy travelers will benefit from this new regime for the Christmas. The most recent EU members, Bulgaria and Romania, hope to become Schengen members by 2011.

Schengen membership isn't tantamount to EU membership. Some EU members are exempted from the common area of free movement of people, e.g. Britain and Ireland. On the other hand, some European countries that aren't EU members can apply and eventually be invited to join this club, e.g. Norway and Iceland. The new EU members, however, cannot unilaterally decide not to become Schengen members in the future. They must satisfy all preconditions for membership, and then and only then they are invited to join Schengen. In order to satisfy all the preconditions for membership, the new countries must show that they can protect the common external borders of the Schengen area. Without this precondition, this area will turn into a free zone for illegal international migration. The countries that would join the Schengen by the end of this year were scrutinized vigorously. Some of them are located at the external EU borders, meaning they will inevitably be the first to face the wave of world's illegal immigration that is heading toward the EU.

We have discussed a year ago the positive aspects of each Schengen enlargement, for the new members, and also for those countries that are waiting on the line for being invited soon. The current political context in Europe, however, provides also with some negative aspects for the countries that are outside EU and outside Schengen, especially in the former USSR and in the former Yugoslavia. For reasons different for each case, the accession negotiations between the EU and some potential new members are slowing down or frozen. Second, at the same time, the cost of Schengen visas is revised upward. Third, the costs of integration of the new EU members represent also a financial burden that the rich EU states look at with increasing animosity. Many experts already see the new Schengen enlargement as a step toward erecting a new iron curtain across the continent.

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