Interior Minister Dragutin Mate has expressed concern over the recently announced delay in the expansion of the Schengen border-free zone, as he met the interior ministers of the Salzburg Forum in Finland's Tampere on Thursday.
The meeting of interior ministers of Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia was initiated by Slovenia on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU interior and justice ministers taking place in this Finnish city.
The ministers addressed a letter to Finland's PM Matti Vanhanen, whose country is currently presiding over the EU, and the European Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini, calling on the two officials to seek a solution to overcome the financial burden faced by the countries before they join the Schengen agreement.
Mate meanwhile expressed his concern and displeasure over the current situation and called on the future EU presidents and the Commission to look for alternative solutions. Mate wants the EU's presiding states and the Commission to allow newcomers to access the existing databases under the SIS+ project. While the Czech Republic supported the proposal, the rest of the Salzburg Forum countries called for continuing the development of the SIS II scheme.
Schengen's planned expansion to eight EU newcomers from 2004 and Switzerland was scheduled to take place in the autumn of 2007. However, delays in the implementation of the second generation of the Schengen information system (SIS II) have pushed the expansion date towards the end of 2008, the Finnish presidency announced.
Mate also presented his SIS+ plan at Wednesday's meeting and was supported by Portugal, while Germany said that it would think about it.
Salzburg Forum meeting was meant to serve as a forum for exchanging opinions prior to the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting that is to take place on 5 and 6 October in Luxembourg.
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