Enlargement has had a particular meaning on the Italian-Slovene border : the Italian town of Gorizia has been reunited with its Slovene "other half", Nova Gorica. The town had been divided by an "iron curtain" built in 1947. With Slovenia's accession to the EU, many border controls, military check-points and division walls will disappear. Gorizia/Nova Gorica will be one again.

 

However it will not be a full reunification yet. Not until 2007, when Slovenia is due to sign the Schengen agreements (abolition of border controls) will the citizens from both halves of the city be able to move freely from one part to the other.

 

Gorizia and Nova Gorica have agreed not to wait until 2007 to launch common initiatives covering theatre plays, cultural centres, bus lines linking both halves of the city...  These days, some 2,000 Slovenes cross the border on a daily basis to go to work on the Italian side of the dividing line. 

 

Some would say that Gorizia/Nova Gorica is a symbol of Europe, with its past, its divisions and also its reconciliation...