The European Union plans to move the expansion of Schengen zone ahead by two weeks so that by mid-December Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Malta will be part of the big European free-travel family.
Posted by
Portland, OR, USA
805 posts
This means mostly for traveler purposes that there will be no more internal border checks when traveling betweeen the countries. For example, travelers from Prague to Rome will no longer have to go through customs upon arrival.
Check out this Wikipedia article for information on the Euro's expansion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_the_eurozone
Posted by
Laguna Beach, CA, USA
272 posts
Would this mean all these countries would start using the Euro at that time? Or would the currency implementation take longer even though the country is officially part of the European Union? Thanks.
Posted by
OP
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
No, this has got nothing to do with the Euro. However, it will become legal tender in Malta on Jan 1st, 2008.
Posted by
OP
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
And for those with passports from non-visa waiver countries like a lot of the Latin American countries it means more countries to travel to with one Schengen visa...
Posted by
Mansfield, GA
850 posts
Thank you for passing this along, Andreas.