For most Europeans and travelers in Europe, the idea of border checks going from one country to another is hardly imaginable; in fact nearly half of all Europeans weren’t even born 40 years ago when leaders of five countries signed the first Schengen agreement to end border checks among themselves.
Today, the Schengen zone includes over 4.5 million square kilometers with 450 million people—25 of the EU’s 27 members, along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Cyprus will bring that up to 26 next year. Except during times of security tension or large-scale migration issues, it’s hard, almost impossible, to know you’ve crossed a border.
The meeting at Schengen in Luxembourg was actually a merger of two ‘proto-Schengens.’ The Benelux countries had already ended internal borders, and France and Germany had agreed the year before to start abolishing their border checks. Later agreements, including the 1990 Schengen Convention and the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam completed the process. The agreement also harmonizes rules for external borders and rules for visas and visitors.
Under the Schengen Borders Code, which sets the rules governing the Schengen area, internal border checks can be temporarily restored where there is a “serious threat to public policy or internal security”, from the organization of a major sport event to a terrorist attack. In recent years there have been more instances of this, and some worry that it is a dangerous long-term trend.
