Malta on the road to Schengen

Preparations for Malta to join the Schengen borderless area are in an advanced stage as the European Union gets ready to evaluate the preparedness of the new member states in a few months' time.

Commission sources told The Times that the first new member states will be able to join in late 2007.

The Schengen area, named after the town in Luxembourg where the original treaty was signed in 1985, is an EU agreement between member states setting out common border control rules. The main objective of the agreement is to abolish passport checks on travellers and to provide stronger controls on the area's fringes as well as closer cooperation between police forces. The agreement translates the principle of freedom of movement.

Currently, the agreement includes all the "old" EU countries, except Britain and Ireland. The 10 new EU member states have adopted the agreement but have yet to implement it. Iceland and Norway also are in the zone.

Malta's geographical position as an island-state on the periphery of the EU makes its preparations more stringent as its borders will eventually become part of the external borders of the EU. Commission sources explained that Malta will have to abolish all the controls at internal borders and a new infrastructure will have to be put in place at the airport in order to separate intra-Schengen and extra-Schengen passenger flows. Uniform visas will also have to be issued in the Maltese consulates according to the common rules.

The sources said that the final decision on when Malta will join will be determined by the EU Council after verification, in accordance with the applicable Schengen procedures, that all the pre-conditions have been fulfilled.

Last week the Commission tabled three new proposals for establishing the second generation of the Schengen Information System (SIS II) which is one of the main conditions for allowing the new member states to fully join the Schengen area and lift their internal borders.

The Commission said this new system will not only be used in the context of policies linked to the movement of persons but also as an essential tool for supporting the police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The new system, which will also have to be installed at all border control points in Malta, will be able to store fingerprints and facial images for verifying the identity of a person.

Meanwhile, following a referendum last Sunday, Switzerland will also be joining the Schengen area. Switzerland will scrap its border checks with its EU neighbours by 2008 when the SIS II system is in place. In the referendum, 54.6 per cent voted in favour.

The Swiss are now planning another referendum on September 25 to extend the open border area to the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004, including Malta. The Swiss will decide whether or not to give the same rights to work and live in the country to the citizens of the new EU member states.