Baltic leaders celebrate joining Schengen (2nd Roundup)

Dec 21, 2007, 15:46 GMT

Tallinn - Instead of passport checks and long lines, the Estonian border guard orchestra greeted Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen on Friday.

Vanhanen stepped off the ferry from Helsinki in the Tallinn port to participate in the celebration of the Schengen enlargement in the Estonian capital.

Border controls were abolished at midnight on Friday when nine European Union countries joined the common visa area known as Schengen. The Estonian capital was lit up on Friday with fireworks commemorating the historic enlargement.

'We believe our external borders are those of the EU, and that it is in the interest of all EU citizens to be able to move in the Union as we move in our countries - freely and without hindrance,' Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said in his speech.

The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini attended the festivities.

'All of our countries, all of our peoples living together in peace, in freedom and democracy,' Barroso said. 'This is indeed a historic moment.'

Opening the borders does not jeopardize the level of security of European countries, Frattini told journalists at the press conference in Tallinn.

'We conducted more than 60 inspections on the ground. And the result is that all the nine member states were perfectly well- prepared to join Schengen,' he said.

Opening borders means that European citizens can travel without stopping at borders of the 24 Schengen countries.

'No passport - just pass the port,' read a flashing sign on screens inside the Tallinn port on Friday.

Ilves and Latvian President Valdis Zatlers took part in a symbolic border-demolishing ceremony at both countries' joint frontier in Valga and in Latvia's Valka.

'All obstacles are gone. The way is open. Starting in Lapland, this way will lead us without any stops through Valka and Valga to the southern point in Portugal,' Ilves said. 'All of it is our Europe.'

The nine European countries that abolished land and sea border controls Thursday midnight are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The enlarged Schengen area, named after the village in Luxembourg where the free-movement scheme was first signed, will now accommodate a total of 24 countries - all of them European Union countries except for Iceland and Norway.