European Parliament
President.
Question no 34 by Danute Budreikaite 
Subject: Enlargement of the Schengen area
The European Union is preparing for enlargement of the Schengen area. However, fears have been raised that it will not be possible to abolish internal border controls in 2007 because of technical problems relating to the central database for external border protection.
Can the Commission explain how the preparations for enlargement of the Schengen area are proceeding? When will it in fact be possible for enlargement to take place? How well prepared are the candidate countries to implement the requirements of the Schengen area?

