(20 Dec 2007)
1. Wide of border control at city bridge in Frankfurt/Oder
2. Mid shot of German and Polish officer checking passport
3. Pan down of barrier
4. German and Polish officers
5. Mid of cars driving through border control
6. Close up of road sign announcing the end of Frankfurt/Oder and announcing the town of Slubice
7. Wide of street to city bridge leading to Poland
8. Pan city bridge connecting Frankfurt/Oder and Slubice
9. SOUNDITE: (German) Jens Schobranski, press officer, Federal police Frankfurt/Oder:
“We definitely are well prepared for the opening. We have a good and trusting cooperation with the Polish side. The one-stop control will be abolished, but we are well equipped to guarantee the monitoring of the borders in the area around the borders in the future.”
10. Mid shot of Polish officer removing sign
11. SOUNDBITE: (German) Vox pop, local resident, no name given:
“It’s amazing, particularly for me as I am Polish and German. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
12. SOUNDBITE: (German) Vox pop, local resident, no name given:
“It’s going to be difficult for the police to control, but I hope everything is going to be fine.”
13. Mid shot of poster announcing that Poland is joining the Schengen area
14. Close up of poster reading “Schengen”
15. Wide of border control point with big poster
STORYLINE:
On the Polish-German border officials were preparing on Thursday for the former communist country to join the EU’s passport-free travel zone.
Border controls along the old Iron Curtain from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic cease to exist from midnight on Thursday.
The entry of nine nations into the EU’s Schengen area means citizens can travel by land or sea between 24 European nations from Portugal to Poland, Iceland to Estonia without facing border checks.
As a condition for joining, the new members have tightened controls on their borders with non-EU nations and linked into an information exchange system for police and border guards around the EU.
“The one-stop control will be abolished, but we are well equipped to guarantee the monitoring of the borders in the area around the borders in the future,” said Jens Schobranski, the press officer for Federal police in Frankfurt/Oder.
However some residents did have concerns.
“It’s going to be difficult for the police to control, but I hope everything is going to be fine,” said a German citizen.
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.
Travellers from outside the EU will be able to move freely within the extended zone on a visa obtained from any one of the member nations.
Among the changes expected Friday, controls will fade away on the busy land crossings between Germany and Poland.
Air passengers flying between the old and new EU member states will continue to face passport controls, although they too are scheduled to disappear on March 30.
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.

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