BUDAPEST, July 30, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union will in December lift border controls for citizens of nine countries which joined the bloc in 2004, a top official said Monday, adding that the move was a 'Christmas present.'

'We can confirm our original plans to lift land borders and maritime borders by December of this year and airport borders by March 2008,' Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini told a press conference also addressed by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.