Moving freely in Schengen countries José Abela writes:

In one of your statements, you said that all EU new member states will form part of the Schengen system in 2008. This means that Maltese citizens will be able to travel to any EU country without any immigration control, that is without passport or ID cards.

My question is how will authorities at airports or other "control points" verify that I am an EU citizen without checking my passport or ID card?

Come next year and as long as it satisfies the conditions for entry, Malta will not just be adopting the euro but also joining the "free movement" Schengen system.

There are currently 15 countries in the Schengen system, which is a zone of (mostly) EU countries in which travel is completely free from immigration controls.

After some delays, Malta and other new EU countries are expected to join Schengen by the end of this year.

Land and sea border controls will be lifted by December 2007 whereas air border controls will be lifted by March 2008.

For Malta, being an island, this means that by the end of this year immigration controls will be lifted when we travel by ferry to Sicily, whereas by March next year all remaining airport immigration controls for passengers flying in and out of the Schengen zone will also be removed. Immigration controls will remain for non-Schengen flights.

Joining Schengen means that Maltese citizens will be able to travel to other Schengen countries without any immigration controls whatsoever.

Immigration controls will be physically removed and therefore no passport or ID card check will be necessary. An identity document will only be required at the boarding gate when airline stewards check your identity against your boarding card.

This step will give all Maltese citizens an unprecedented freedom of movement within most EU countries, albeit not all. The United Kingdom, a favourite destination, being a major exception since, along with Ireland, it opted to stay out of Schengen. In this case, as in the case of non-EU countries, one would still need to proceed through the immigration controls of the non-Schengen channel.

As to the reader's question on how the authorities would be able to check whether a person is an EU citizen, the answer is simple.

The Schengen free movement zone is not only open to EU citizens but also to non-EU citizens. Therefore the need to check whether a person is an EU citizen does not arise.

Being residents in a Schengen country, Maltese citizens will simply pass through the airport channel reserved for "Schengen countries". A separate channel will be reserved for "non-Schengen countries". The Schengen channel will have no immigration control points whereas controls will remain for the non-Schengen channel.

Non-EU citizens who fly from Malta to another Schengen country will equally pass through the same Schengen channel. However, upon entering Malta they would have already entered a Schengen external border (the non-EU channel) and would have been required to present their passport and, where applicable, a visa. Visas issued by Malta will become valid throughout the Schengen area.

Equally, non-EU citizens coming into Malta from other Schengen countries, such as Italy, would also pass through the Schengen channel and be subjected to no controls as their identity and immigration checks would already have been made upon their first entry into Italy.

Being part of an immigration-control-free zone therefore entails the removal of all remaining border controls with other Schengen countries.

But it also comes with a need to strengthen external border controls with non-Schengen countries.

This is why entry into Schengen is not automatic and requires the fulfilment of strict conditions largely focused on a country's capacity to police its external borders. It is precisely these tests that Malta and other Schengen aspirants must fulfil before being given the green light to join Schengen.

The plan to include the new member states was stalled for some time because of delays in the implementation of a new Schengen Information System, known as SIS II, which is required to help countries strengthen their external borders.

However, following a decision of EU Home Affairs Ministers last December, new countries will now be allowed to join provided that they fulfil security requirements. As from the middle of this year, the Commission will be making a final assessment to ensure that the new member states have fulfilled the necessary security requirements.

The final decision will then be taken in Autumn by the Council of Ministers.

Readers who would like to ask questions to be answered in this column can send an email, identifying themselves, to contact@simonbusuttil.eu or through www.simonbusuttil.eu