European Travel – Borderless Travel and the Schengen Agreement

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As we arrived at the Prague airport on the public bus ready to board a flight for Paris, they announced that bus was making two stops at two different terminals. But instead of one terminal being domestic and one being international, or one terminal being this set of airlines and the next terminal a second set of airlines, we were told that the first terminal was to non-Schengen states and that the second terminal was to Schengen states. We had heard of the Schengen Agreement but we were scrambling to remember what countries where part of that agreement in this unexpected geography and history quiz.

Confused? For many people this would be like being quizzed on which countries were the leading exporters of iron ore or which countries were part of the former Holy Roman Empire. But the Schengen Agreement has probably impacted your European travel profoundly even if you have not heard of it. In 1985 a treaty was signed near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg that removed the border crossings from a number of countries in Europe. No longer would you need to show your passport to travel between say France and Germany or the Netherlands and Belgium. The treaty area has grown over time from Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany to include Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Swedenand and then later to include all EU countries except Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Along with the adoption of the Euro, the Schengen Agreement, which happened 26 years ago this week, has been one of the most significant steps for simplifying travel to Europe.

Ironically, only in the past few weeks in response to the latest wave of immigration from the strife in North Africa, some countries in the Schengen area have talked of closing their borders again.

By the way, if you every need to know the leading nations that export iron ore to get off the bus at the airport, the answer is Brazil, Australia, India, South Africa and Canada.