Notes From The Field

Another test for Club Europa

If May 1 2004 was the European Union's 'Big Bang' with ten new countries joining the bloc, then December 21 2007 is likely to be another milestone and a telling test for progress in an enlarged Club Europe. It appears certain that nine of the ten member states (all bar Cyprus) that joined in 2004 are set to join another exclusive club - the Schengen area.

For several years under Schengen, visa free travel and minimal border controls have been the norm within continental Europe and non-EU members Norway and Iceland. The exception being the UK and Ireland which opted out of certain conditions of the Schengen Agreement.

If Brussels gives the nod to all nine, mostly former Soviet states, the frontiers of a borderless Europe will be pushed further eastward to extend from Russia in the north to the Adriatic in the south.

Anything to Declare?

I'm watching with interest the proposal of an EU 'Blue Card' for skilled immigrants. Not only because I'm an immigrant in the EU but it will be interesting to see how it might play out along side or against the current immigration policies of EU member states and issues surrounding the expansion of the Schengen zone due in December.

EU ministers will decide in Brussels on November 8 which new member states have met all criteria to join the Schengen area.

In short, you'll soon be able to cross the border from say Russia or Ukraine and travel all the way to the Channel without having to show your passport.

No doubt EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini, who is overseeing the process, will be seeking EU ministers to back his recommendations.

Politically for Portugal, a smooth enlargement of the Schengen area is also important to end its EU Presidency on a high note. Portugese IT know-how is also behind SISone4all - the new Schengen data-sharing system - a vital link in an enlarged Schengen zone to fight human trafficking and to stem illegal immigration.

Uzhorod - Kosice - Bonn

Currently at Vienna Airport (after a slight panic having taken the wrong way to cross the Slovak-Austrian border).

It's been a hectic couple of days. We stayed in Ukraine last night just over the border at Uzhorod. Plenty of election campaigning going on for all parties in the main square - we have some great photos of the Tymoschenko bloc campaign material - Julia in Space. Our main goal was to find out more about the consequences for Ukrainians when Slovakia and other countries (almost certainly) join the Schengen zone in January.

Last night Chris and I stayed in Presov and this morning we drove down to Kosice and paid a visit to the local maternity hospital. We were interested in the music therapy which staff give to new born babies several times a day. Afterwards we tore across Slovakia. Thanks to Tescos in Lucenec for being open on a Sunday. We picked up a portable hard drive and a power converter to keep working while we were on the road.

Chris is now heading to Budapest and I'm returning to Bonn. Over the next week we'll post some more material on the trip.

 

Fishing for a visa

Popping around to the local tackle shop was the last place I thought we'd have to go for our Ukraine visas...

Update

A few shots from inside the fishing shop. I asked if they had any Tassie Devil lures. Apparently the trout fishing isn't that good.

The Velvet Divorce

One of the topics I'm covering in Slovakia is independence and how people feel about it almost 15 years on since the splitting with the Czechs (1 January 1993). At this stage I'm preparing it for a radio feature, but I also shot some footage around Nam SNP - a square dedicated to the Slovak National Uprising of 1944 - and where people gathered in Bratislava during the Velvet Revolution in 1989.