Schengen treaty

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Schengen Treaty members are in dark blue, while signatories (where it is not yet implemented) are in light blue.
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Schengen Treaty members are in dark blue, while signatories (where it is not yet implemented) are in light blue.
A monument of the Schengen Treaty in Schengen
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A monument of the Schengen Treaty in Schengen

The Schengen treaty is a part of EU law which allows for common EU immigration policies and border system. 26 countries (All EU states except Ireland and the UK, but including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) have signed the agreement and 15 have implemented it so far. Border posts and checks have been removed between Schengen countries and a common 'Schengen visa' allows access to the area, however the treaty does not cover residency or work permits for non-EU nationals.

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The agreement was originally signed on June 14, 1985, by five European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands). The agreement was signed aboard the ship Princesse Marie-Astrid on the Moselle River, near Schengen, a small town in Luxembourg on the border with France and Germany.

Its goal was to end border checkpoints and controls within the Schengen area (also known as Schengenland) and harmonise external border controls. It was originally separate from the European Union (then European Community) but has since become an EU competence, although there are some non-EU members in the Schengen area, and some EU members are outside the area.

Additional countries have since also signed the convention, making the total number of signatories twenty-six.

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Membership and implementation

The treaty signed in 1985 set out the steps to be taken to create the Schengen area. A further document, called the Schengen Convention (or more fully: Convention applying the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the governments of the states of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders), was created which put the Schengen area into practice. This second document replaced the first and was signed by each country on the dates shown below.

For each member country there has been a delay between signing the treaty (becoming a member) and actually implementing it.

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Membership

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Exceptions

The following territories of the membership countries are not covered by the treaty:

  • Heligoland of Germany
  • Svalbard of Norway (But Jan Mayen Island is covered by the treaty.)
  • Greenland and the Faroe Islands of Denmark although formally excluded from the Schengen area, are integrated with it. (It was laid down in the association agreement with Denmark that persons travelling between the Faroe Islands and Greenland on the one hand, and the Schengen Member States on the other hand, are not subject of a border check. The traditional Free Movement of Persons acquis of the European Community is not applicable to Greenland and to the Faroe Islands.)
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Implementation

The ten countries who signed on May 1, 2004 are set to implement the treaty in October 2007. Switzerland also has to implement the treaty; therefore only fifteen countries are currently full members of the Schengen Treaty.

There are some countries other than the Schengen signatories that should also be mentioned:

Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City although not formally part of the Schengen zone are integrated into it. However Andorra is not similarly integrated into the Schengen zone and border controls remain.

None of these states have concluded agreements on the Traditional Free Movement of Persons with the European Community and are not signatories to the Treaty; however they have existing agreements with their neighbouring countries removing border controls. In the case of Monaco, which borders onto the Mediterranean Sea, the Schengen Treaty is administered as if Monaco were a part of France, with French authorities carrying out the Schengen checks at Monaco's sea port.

Liechtenstein is not yet part of the Schengen area; it has an open border with Switzerland (which has not yet implemented the treaty) but border controls are still carried out between it and its EU neighbours. As part of the European Economic Area it applies the Traditional Free Movement of Persons acquis of the European Community; Liechtenstein intends to adhere to the Schengen area and negotiations will start in the Autumn of 2005. 1

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Treaty provisions

Before Schengen, citizens of western European countries could travel to neighbouring countries by showing their national ID card or passport at the border. Nationals of some other countries required separate visas for every country in Europe they wished to visit. A vast network of Border posts existed around the continent, disrupting traffic, trade and causing delays and costs to both businesses and visitors.

The Schengen Treaty removed border checks between participating countries. The Schengen Treaty also means that participating countries will co-ordinate their external controls. This is necessary since a person acceptable to one country but not to another can still enter both, if one admits him. For example, immigration policy must be agreed upon as immigrants can enter through the most relaxed border and make their way to less hospitable countries once within Schengenland unless entry criteria are homogeneous.

A country is permitted by the article 2.2 of the treaty to reinstate border controls for a short period if it is deemed in the interest of national security. This occurred in Portugal during the 2004 European Football Championship and in France for the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day. It was used again by France shortly after the London bombings in July of 2005 (This was despite the fact that the UK is not part of Schengen and the France-UK border controls were always in place. One of the bombers anyway managed to pass unimpeded through France, only to be arrested in Rome). Finland has announced it will reinstate border controls during the 2005 World Championships in Athletics taking place in Helsinki Olympic Stadium during August 2005.

The Schengen Treaty also includes consent to share information about people, via the Schengen Information System. This means that a potentially undesirable person cannot 'disappear' simply by moving from one participant country to another as each country will know the same about the person's background.

Previously, a criminal with police in hot pursuit would be safe once they managed to cross the border, but under the agreements of the Schengen Treaty police from one nation can cross national borders to chase their target.

The Schengen Treaty intends to harmonise the laws and regulations of several policy areas, in order to minimise the extent to which criminals can take advantage of the relaxation of controls. For example, the Dutch policy on drugs differs from the French policy, and a person could buy drugs in the Netherlands and transport them to France to sell on the black market. This is much easier when there are no border controls between the two countries. As a result of this particular difference in policy France insisted on maintaining border controls on people entering France from the Benelux countries for some time after the Treaty was implemented.

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Schengen and the European Union

All Schengen Treaty signatories except Norway, Iceland and Switzerland are European Union members. Two EU members (the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) have opted not to sign the Schengen Treaty. The UK wishes to maintain its own borders and Ireland has a free movement arrangement with the UK (called the Common Travel Area) similar to the Schengen Treaty, so in order to maintain this it can only sign the Schengen Treaty if the UK does. Because of the island nature of the British Isles and also because neither country issues ID cards to their nationals, there would be relatively few benefits to joining the treaty. Also the UK has historically been reluctant to relax border controls because of its strict rules on bringing live animals into the country—the British Isles are free of rabies unlike much of Europe.

Non-EU nationals living in the UK and Ireland would however benefit from the UK and Ireland joining the Schengen area, as they currently need to obtain separate UK, Irish and Schengen visas in order to travel within the EU. On May 29, 2000 the UK and Ireland began participating in the Schengen Information System.

The Nordic countries have had a similar open borders scheme in effect between them since 1952, preserving this was the major reason for the non-EU countries of Norway and Iceland to join.

The Schengen Treaty was created independently of the European Union in part due to the lack of consensus amongst EU members, and in part because those ready to implement the idea did not wish to wait for others who were not ready.

The Treaty of Amsterdam incorporated the developments brought about by the Schengen agreement into the European Union framework, effectively making the Schengen Treaty part of the EU. Amongst other things the Council of the European Union took the place of the Executive Committee which had been created under the Schengen agreement. Future applicants to the European Union must fulfil the Schengen Treaty criteria regarding their external border policies in order to be accepted into the EU. The existing signatories who are not EU members have less opportunity to participate in shaping the evolution of the Schengen Treaty as a result of the Treaty of Amsterdam. Their options are effectively reduced to agreeing with whatever is presented before them or withdrawing from the Treaty.

Despite the Schengen Treaty having been incorporated into the EU, it has not been voted upon by any EU institution. Because of this, there are some concerns regarding the democratic accountability of the Treaty. Greece, prior to accepting and signing the treaty, raised questions about the legality of the Schengen Information System, and suggested that it represented a violation of privacy.

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Gaining entry

Member States of the Schengen area have elaborated uniformed rules as to the type of visas which may be issued for a short-term stay, not exceeding three months, on the territory of one, several or all of those States.

The uniform visa enables aliens that are subject to the visa requirement to present themselves at the external border of the Member State which issued the visa or that of another Member State and request, depending on the type of visa, transit or stay. The uniform visa is granted in the form of a sticker affixed by a Member State onto a passport, travel document or another valid document which entitles the holder to cross the border.

In other words, mere possession of a uniform visa does not confer automatic right of entry. It will only be granted if the other transit or entry conditions laid down by the Schengen Agreement have been met, notably the means of subsistence that aliens must have at their disposal, as well as the purpose and the conditions of the stay.

Obtaining a Schengen visa means that the traveller must go through the following steps:

  1. He must first identify the Schengen country of his main destination. This element will determine the State responsible for deciding on the Schengen visa application and therefore the embassy or the consulate where he will have lodge the application. If his intention is to visit several Schengen countries during his trip, he will have to file his visa application at the embassy of the country where he will make his first entry in Schengen area. If the Schengen State of his main destination or first entry does not have a diplomatic mission or consular post in his country, he will have to contact the embassy or the consulate of another Schengen country, normally located in his country, which represents, for the purpose of issuing Schengen visas, the country of his principal destination or of his first entry.
  2. He must then present the Schengen visa application to the responsible embassy or consulate. A harmonised form is to be submitted, together with a valid passport and, if necessary, with the documents supporting the purpose and conditions of the stay in the Schengen area (aim of the visit, duration of the stay, lodging). He will also have to prove his means of subsistence, i.e. the funds that he has to cover: on the one hand, the expenses of his stay taking into account its duration and the place where he will reside and, on the other hand, the return in his home country. Bear in mind that certain embassies or consulates sometimes call the applicant to appear in person in order to explain verbally the reasons for the visa application.
  3. The traveller must finally have a travel insurance which covers, for a minimum of € 30 000, any expenses in connection with repatriation for sanitary reasons or with emergency medical treatment occurred during his stay. The proof of the travel insurance must in principle be provided at the end of the procedure, i.e. when a positive decision has already been made as for the granting of the Schengen visa.

For citizens of countries not party to the Schengen treaty restrictions exist that govern the length of one's stay within the Schengen area. The general rule stipulates a maximum 90-day stay within a 180-day period beginning from the first day of entry. Provided a multiple-entry visa has been granted, one may leave and return a number of times within the 180-day period but the combined stay within the region must total no more than 90 days.

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