The Schengen Agreement

15 Years of the Schengen Agreement
Europe Without Internal Borders Continues to Expand
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Mar 30, 2010 Aleksandar Kocic
Travelling without a passport and stopping at borders has been a reality in Europe for 15 years. Suite 101 takes a look at the pros and cons of borderless Europe.

The Schengen Agreement, which came into force on March 26th, 1995, began as a practical move towards the European Union’s goal of ‘free movement of persons’. Initially signed by only five European Union members - Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - the Agreement now includes 25 countries. It got its name after a town in Luxembourg, where it was signed in 1985, although the actual signing took place on a boat in the middle of the Moselle River, which forms the border between Luxembourg and Germany. The negotiations on the convention applying the Agreement took five years, and then further five years passed before the convention was implemented.
What Is Schengen and Who is in

Although it is an EU Agreement, Schengen does not include all EU members - Ireland and the UK decided to stay out and retain complete control of their borders, while some of the newest EU members, such as Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, will have to wait longer before joining, since they are not yet deemed to have met the necessary security criteria. On the other hand, non-EU members such as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland are part of the Agreement.

Schengen’s main feature is the creation of a single external border, with a single set of rules for policing that border. That means people living inside the Schengen area are guaranteed freedom to travel without passports and border controls. This in turn led to tighter rules regulating the external border, which is why the Schengen area has been dubbed by some ‘Fortress Europe’.

Other main features of Schengen are common rules on asylum, common list of countries whose nationals require visas, creation of a single information system which allows for a shared database of wanted or undesirable people, and joint efforts to fight drug-related crime. The treaty allows signatories to reimpose border controls for short periods of time if necessary for reasons of national security. A few countries have done this so far, namely France, Portugal, Finland and Germany during major sporting or national events.
Pros and Cons of Schengen

In addition to making citizen’s life easier by abolishing border controls, among the biggest benefits of Schengen has been its effect on European integration, according to Daniela Kietz of the German Institute for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, she said that lifting internal borders has made EU-wide measures in areas like migration, asylum, and police cooperation absolutely necessary. “[A]fter the agreement took effect, Schengen member states couldn't control migration or asylum flows into their countries anymore. In order to balance this, EU-wide measures as part of an all-encompassing migration policy had to be installed."

Read more at Suite101: 15 Years of the Schengen Agreement: Europe Without Internal Borders Continues to Expand http://eeuropeanrussianaffairs.suite101.com/article.cfm/15-years-of-passport-free-travel-for-europe#ixzz0lX3H0Zim