14 June 1985. Ministers of Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands sign a historic agreement on pleasure boat Princesse Marie Astrid moored in the Luxembourg town of Schengen. The objective of this agreement is the gradual abolishment of border checks on common borders. In short, citizens are free to travel. The agreement comes into force ten years later. These days, you can travel from Faro to Lapland without being checked at the border even once.
The pearl by the Moselle
Schengen is an idyllic town on the banks of the Moselle in the Remich district. Remich is one of the smallest regions in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It lies in the far southeast of the country. Germany and France are a stone’s throw away, which is why the historic agreement was signed here 25 years ago.
The Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement formed the basis of the Schengen Area, which is an area where people can travel freely. It doesn’t have any internal borders and just one common external border where people wishing to enter the Schengen Area are checked uniformly. The Schengen Area has expanded over the years. It currently consists of all member states of the European Union except for Ireland and the UK. Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania are still in a transitional phase. The Schengen Area also includes three countries that aren’t members of the European Union: Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
Since the Treaty of Amsterdam came into effect, the Schengen Agreement has become an integral part of the European Union. This entails that countries wanting to join the European Union must accept all provisions of the Schengen Agreement.
From Faro to Lapland
The Schengen Agreement led to the fact that European Union citizens can now travel from the south of Portugal to the barren North of Finland, without being checked at the border. No more wasting time in endless traffic jams at border crossing-points. How things have changed…