Commission denies foul play over Schengen delay

Summary:

The European Commission has denied that there is any "conspiracy" at play which is delaying the removal of border and passport controls between the new member states and the rest of the EU.

The response came after some new member states reacted angrily to the delay. The new member states will not be able to join the EU-wide database for exchanging information on borders, known as the Schengen Information System (SIS), until the summer of 2008 and border controls will not come down until the beginning of 2009, according to a statement from the Czech Republic’s representation to the EU.