EU marks 25th anniversary of Schengen with closed borders

Hungarian police officers reject cars at the Nickelsdorf-Hegyeshalom border crossing on the Austrian-Hungarian border. Alex Halada / AFP

On this day, 26 March, in 1995, seven European nations entered into what would become the EU's signature policy – freedom of movement – implementing the Schengen Agreement for the first time by abolishing passport controls for citizens of member states.

But on the 25th anniversary of its introduction, the spread of COVID-19 has left the fate of Schengen hanging in the balance.

Over the past month, the Schengen agreement has virtually been suspended because of the new coronavirus, which has frozen most economic and social activity, disrupted supply chains and turned most Europeans into prisoners in their own homes.

A traffic signal panel announces border crossing checks at the Austrian-German border in Hangendenstein near Salzburg, Austria. /Barbara Gindl/APA/AFP

The birth of Schengen

The Schengen area, named after the eponymous Luxembourg village where the agreement was ratified in 1985, was originally signed by only five countries: Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

However, it would take another 10 years for countries to start fully implementing its requirements.

Initially put in place by Belgium, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg in 1995, the zone would go on to incorporate 26 European states, including EU and non-EU members, such as Norway and Switzerland.

The UK and Ireland would be the only members to remain outside the Schengen zone.

But with the spread of COVID-19, the seven states to first implement the Schengen border protocols have all to some extent taken the measure of reintroducing controls at their frontiers, along with their Schengen partners.

Police patrol the border between Belgium and Germany in Kelmis. /Eric Lalmand/BELGA/AFP

Internal borders

Belgium has introduced checks until 30 March 2020, with Portugal and Spain imposing border controls at their land frontiers from 16 and 17 March respectively, with extensions expected.

Dutch commuters have reported issues trying to get into Belgian territory. "I had heard in the news that theborders were closed," said Bart Jansen from the Dutch town of Breda. "But I did not expect that there would be such strict controls. There's nothing we can do about it."

Germany has also stepped up border controls with several countries including France, which has reciprocated.

Berlin has gone so far as to ban foreign seasonal workers from entering Germany, even though its farm sector, which employs 300,000 foreign nationals each year, is critically lacking manpower.

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Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia have also closed theirbordersto non-nationals, with Slovakia making an exception for Poles.

Non-EU Schengen member Switzerland announced on Wednesday that it was expanding its border controls to include all countries in the Schengen open border zone to help protect people from coronavirus.

"The very life of many of our citizens relies on unhindered movement acrossborders of workers, essential medical supplies and goods of first necessity," Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's foreign minister, said on Thursday.

He called for the lifting of checks and the reopening ofborders as soon as possible.

A container used by the police to block the Belgian-Dutch border, in Hoogstraten, Belgium. /Kristof van Accom/BELGA/AFP

How is the EU responding?

According to the European Commission, the Schengen Borders Code allows EU members to temporarily reintroduce controls at their internal borders "in the event that a serious threat to public policy or internal security has been established."

However, such measures are hitting the single market and the concept of European cooperation hard.

"The COVID-19 outbreak is having a major disruptive impact on European cross-bordermobility and transport," an internal document of the European Commission said, referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The document, dated 25 March, said all EU member states had introducedborderrestrictions or closures, with the exception of Ireland, which is not a member of the Schengen area and does not share any landborderwith EU states following The UK's exit from the bloc.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was particularly critical of the breakdown of freedom of movement and the perceived selfishness of member states in disallowing medical equipment to move between borders.

"When Europe really needed to be there for each other, too many initially looked out for themselves," she told the European parliament on Thursday.

"We have no stronger asset for this than our unique single market. A successful European response can only be coordinated if our internal market and our borders work the way they should. A crisis without borders cannot be solved by putting barriers between us.

"And yet, this is exactly the first reflex that many European countries had. This simply makes no sense."

On the 25th anniversary of Schengen, what should be a day of celebration for those who lionize freedom of movement, Von der Leyen and her allies will looking for new ways to return cohesion to an increasingly fragmented bloc.

Source(s): Reuters