Passengers may now travel once again without a passport to several other European countries, after the government stopped its temporary suspension of the free movement Schengen scheme.

While the international community retained its maximum terror alert over New Year's Eve, Malta never had any threat and therefore the government can announce that the Schengen rules are now back in force, the Home Affairs Ministry said.

The government had initially suspended the free movement agreement in the wake of the Valletta Summit on migration and later in November the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting until it decided to extend the suspension until the end of the year as an additional security measure.

This means that there will be no passport controls to other Schengen states at Malta International Airport and the cruise passenger terminal in Valletta.

Of the 26 countries bound by the Schengen agreement, 22 are part of the EU and the other 4 are part of the EFTA.