(21 Dec 2007)
++NIGHT SHOTS++
Rajka, Hungary/Slovakia border
1. Mid of Rajka border crossing between Hungary and Slovakia
2. Mid of security cameras
3. Various of Rajka border crossing without border police officers, cars passing without stopping
4. Tracking shot of car passing border without stopping
5. Mid of money exchange office, pan to border crossing
6. Close-up of closed booth at border crossing
++DAY SHOTS++
Hegyeshalom, Austria-Hungarian border
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Romanian entrepreneur, no name given:
"In my opinion it was a very good thing which has happened. I hope that Romania will be the same after some years. I do not know, maybe."
8. Wide of Hotel Paprika on border with Austria
9. Wide of Hegyeshalom border
STORYLINE:
Traffic flowed freely across several borders in Eastern Europe on Friday, as nine mostly ex-communist nations joined the joined the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.
The end of border controls, which formally took place at midnight, were immediately noticeable at Rajka between Hungary and Slovakia.
At Hegyeshalom, on the Austria-Hungarian border, one Romanian businessman welcome the extension of the Schengen area.
"In my opinion it was a very good thing which has happened. I hope that Romania will be the same after some years. I do not know, maybe," he said.
The Schengen agreement is named after the village in Luxembourg where it was signed in 1985 by France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to allow citizens to travel freely between them.
Since then, they have been joined by Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, as well as non-EU nations Norway and Iceland.
Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta joined the EU in 2004, but have had to wait before gaining access to the frontier-free zone pending reforms to bring standards of their police and border guards in line with EU norms.
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