Stop! Schengen Time!
Tonight at midnight Poland will go through one of its most dramatic transformations since joining the European Union: it will enter the Schengen zone. As the clock strikes midnight and Friday, the 21st of December begins, nine new EU members will enter the Schengen area: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as Slovenia and Malta. Starting Friday, the countries will now abandon checks on internal EU borders.
At midnight, celebrations will take place at Zittau, Bogatynia and Hradek nad Nisou, where the German, Polish and Czech borders meet, and will be attended by a each country's government representatives. But what does being in the Schengen zone mean for Poland? Well, Polish and EU nationals will be able to travel through the entire now 24-nation Schengen area without border checks or passport controls, while visitors to the Schengen area will only have to present their visas or passports when entering the area. The plan promises to make travel within the EU a lot less cumbersome, while increasing the security of the EU's external borders.