BRUSSELS, November 27 (RIA Novosti) - Interior and justice ministers from the 27 EU member states formally approved at a meeting on Thursday Switzerland's accession to the Schengen passport-free zone from December 12.
Switzerland will be the 25th member of the Schengen area, which already includes three non-EU countries - Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
While land border checkpoints are to be closed, people entering Switzerland by air from Schengen countries will still have their passports checked until March 29, 2009.
So far, Britain and Ireland have abstained from Schengen membership, which among other things grants access to a common police database, and Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus have yet to meet border control standards required for membership.
The agreement to set up the Schengen zone was signed in Schengen, Luxembourg in 1985.
