Czech-Slovak border controls to be upgraded if Bratislava fails Schengen controls

The Czech Republic may erect a guarded border with Slovakia, ending free travel inside former Czechoslovakia, unless Bratislava tightens controls on its frontier with Ukraine, Czech Ambassador to Brussels Jan Kohout said on Tuesday. The two European Union newcomers want to enter the EU's borderless Schengen area at the end of 2007, but before Slovakia can join it must upgrade controls on the border with non-EU member Ukraine. If Bratislava fails the Schengen control test, the Czech Republic would not be admitted to the EU zone of passport-free travel unless it imposed checks at the Slovak border.