eu

As clocks struck midnight, Switzerland officially joined the Schengen agreement, meaning passports will no longer be checked at the border crossings between the confederation and the rest of Europe.

"Schengen means" there will be "no systematic control of the borders anymore," Michaela Rickenbacker, the chief of the Swiss border police, told local radio.

However, she admitted, most systematic checks have already been removed. People will feel the difference, but only slightly. Border checks will remain in place for custom issues.

"Cuban sanctions will be lifted," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters after foreign ministers of the 27-nation bloc clinched agreement at a summit dinner in Brussels.

"Of course there is clear language on human rights, on the detention of prisoners and there will have to be a review also," she said of the EU policy arrangements accompanying the move.