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Theme of the day of 20 December 2007
Freedom to travel through Europe
The 21st of December brings a new enlargement to the EU. The Schengen area, comprising 13 EU Member States, will include from this date forward an additional 9 Member States of the 2004 EU enlargement wave from Central and Eastern Europe.
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72,000,000 citizens from the former Communist states will be able to travel freely, without passports, through the European Union from the 21st of December. The Schengen area has not been enlarged on such a scale since its establishment.
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The European Parliament's Rapporteur for the Schengen enlargement was Carlos Coelho MEP (EPP-ED, Portugal). The Schengen process creates an area of free movement inside the EU's territory. It began on 14 June 1985 in Schengen, and continues to deepen European integration. Border controls between participating Member States have ceased. Along with the removal of internal controls, several compensatory measures will be implemented, including: the establishment of efficient controls at external borders, the reinforcement of cooperation between the concerned Member States' administrative, customs, police and judicial authorities, a common visa policy, and the creation of the Schengen Information System.
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The EPP-ED Group believes that there is a need for solidarity among all Member States in sharing the financial and organisational burden of controlling the external borders of the EU.
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The enlargement of the Schengen area represents an appropriate end to the year 2007 in the European Union, which has experienced successful German and Portuguese presidencies, the agreement on a new EU Treaty, and the election of a new President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering MEP (EPP-ED, Germany).
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Legislative Observatory: Report on the draft Council decision on the application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the Schengen Information System in the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic  |
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Legislative Observatory: Schengen: legal framework governing in respect of matters falling with the scope of the Treaty establishing the European Community or EC Treaty the establishment, the operation and the use of the second generation information system, SIS II |
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Legislative Observatory: Schengen: access to the Second Generation Information System, SIS II, by the services in the Member States responsible for issuing vehicle registration certificates |
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Legislative Observatory: Schengen: legal framework for governing the establishment, the operation and the use of the second generation information system, SIS II |
Themes of the Day:
Background notes:
Five Member States - France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - signed the Schengen Agreement on 14 June 1985 and the Schengen Convention on 19 June 1990 (the latter came into force in 1995).
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Italy joined in 1990, Spain and Portugal in 1991, Greece in 1992, Austria in 1995, and Finland, Sweden and Denmark (under a special arrangement) in 1996. Ireland and the United Kingdom are only partial participants, since their border controls have been maintained. Two non-Community countries - Iceland and Norway - also joined in 1996, but they have a limited role in terms of decision-taking.
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The Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997 incorporated the Schengen acquis in the framework of European Union.
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In accordance with evaluation procedures as stated in the accession agreements with the 9 new participating states, the Council has verified that these countries have met the necessary conditions to apply the remaining Schengen acquis – i.e. Air Borders, Land Borders, Police Co-operation, SIS, Sea Borders and visas.
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Archive Theme of the day
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