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Schengen Agreement: a Short History

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Schengen Agreement: a Short History Library Note Schengen Agreement: A Short History The Schengen Agreement concerns the removal of internal border checks between countries which have agreed to comply with the Schengen acquis (or body of law). It also provides for cooperation in police and judicial matters and sets rules for checks at external borders. It has its roots in an agreement signed in 1985 between Belgium, France, the then Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It was first incorporated into the European Union’s legal framework by a protocol to the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam. Today, the Schengen Area consists of 22 EU member states and four non-EU member states. The United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen Area but it does participate in the Schengen Information System which shares data between member states, and in certain police and judicial cooperation agreements. This House of Lords Library briefing sets out a short history of the Schengen Agreement and provides a timeline for major events in its development. It also provides further information on recent developments, including the temporary reintroduction of border controls by member states in response to recent increases in refugees and migrants from outside of the Schengen Area and in response to the terror attacks in Paris in November 2015. Charley Coleman 7 March 2016 LLN 2016/013 Table of Contents 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1 2. 1985 Agreement and the 1990 Convention ...................................................................................... 2 3. Incorporation into EU Law by the Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997 ................................................... 3 4. Position of the UK ................................................................................................................................... 4 5. Positions of Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein .................................... 5 6. Temporary Reintroduction of Border Controls ............................................................................... 6 7. Related Further Information .................................................................................................................. 9 8. Timeline .................................................................................................................................................... 10 9. Glossary.................................................................................................................................................... 11 Appendix—European Commission, Back to Schengen—A Roadmap................................................... 13 1. Introduction The Schengen Area consists of 22 European Union (EU) member states and four non-EU member states which have abolished their internal border checks and have implemented the Schengen acquis (or body of law). A further four EU member states are awaiting entry as Schengen candidate countries.1 Schengen is governed by a set of rules which: Regulate people crossing the EU’s external borders, including the issuing of required visas and how checks at these borders should be carried out. Harmonise the conditions of entry and visa rules for short stays of up to three months. Provide for police cooperation, including on cross-border surveillance and hot pursuit. Provide for judicial cooperation for faster extradition systems and for the transfer and enforcement of criminal judgments. Establish the Schengen Information System (SIS). SIS is an information system that supports external border control and law enforcement, by enabling data sharing between member states.2 Figure 1. The Schengen Area Although Schengen is closely linked to the EU’s principles of freedom of movement it relates only to border checks and related issues of law enforcement. It does not govern the rights of EU citizens to live and work in other member states.3 1 European Commission, ‘Schengen Area’, accessed 3 March 2016. These are Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus. 2 ibid. 3 European Parliament, Fact Sheets on the European Union: Free Movement of Persons, February 2016. The Schengen Area is named after a village in Luxembourg where the borders of France, Germany and Luxembourg meet. In 1985, Belgium, France, the then Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the ‘Schengen Agreement’ which set the groundwork for the gradual abolition of checks at common internal borders between the participating states. Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands had already signed the Treaty of the Benelux Economic Union in 1958, entering into force in 1960. Benelux: […] became the first completely free international labour market; the movement of capital and services was also made free. Postal and transport rates were standardized, and welfare policies were coordinated. In 1970 border controls were abolished.4 The original parties to the Schengen Agreement then signed a Convention implementing the principles of the Agreement, which entered into force in March 1995; Spain and Portugal had signed the agreement in 1991 and so internal border controls between them and the original agreement countries were abolished from March 1995. A protocol to the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam incorporated the Schengen Agreement into EU law. The Treaty entered into force in May 1999.5 The United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland have remained outside of the Schengen Area. However, under the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam both were granted the right to opt in to provisions in the future. Whilst the UK is not a member of the Schengen Area it has chosen to opt in to the SIS “in the context of law enforcement cooperation”.6 2. 1985 Agreement and the 1990 Convention The issue of the free movement of people was a subject of discussion in the then European Economic Community (EEC) prior to the 1985 Schengen Agreement between Belgium, France, the then Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.7 The 1985 Agreement was an agreement between the individual governments of these countries which was independent of any wider EEC discussions or agreements.8 This is reflected in an answer to a written parliamentary question in 1989, given by Francis Maude, the then Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He stated that: The Schengen Agreement is an arrangement between France and the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg to abolish land frontier controls between their countries. Their work is separate from the discussions on free movement of people which are taking place among all member states of the European Community. We will naturally be interested in the experience of the Schengen Partners in reducing frontier controls.9 In June 1990, the contracting parties to the 1985 Agreement signed a convention implementing the Agreement, again in the village of Schengen.10 The original intention had been to abolish all 4 Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Benelux Economic Union’, accessed 3 March 2016. 5 European Commission, Europe Without Borders: The Schengen Area, 2015, p 14. 6 European Commission, ‘Schengen Information System’, accessed 3 March 2016. 7 European Commission, ‘Schengen Area’, accessed 3 March 2016. 8 United Nations Treaty Collection, Agreement 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, 14 June 1985. Please note that the official text is only available in Dutch, French and German. 9 HC Hansard, 7 December 1989, col 371W. checks on both individuals and goods at the common borders of contracting parties by 1 January 1990. However, […] the political sensitivity and legal complexity of the issues to be settled led to lengthy negotiations; the developments in and with the German Democratic Republic at the end of 1989 caused additional delays.11 At a meeting in Bonn on 22 December 1994, the Executive Committee of the Schengen group of countries agreed to apply the Schengen Convention “irreversibly” from 26 March 1995.12 A press release explained that the contracting parties to the Schengen Convention were motivated by the desire to minimise barriers to an internal market, stating that: The preamble to the [Schengen] Convention states that “the Treaty establishing the European Communities, supplemented by the Single European Act, provides that the internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers” and the aim pursued by the Contracting Parties (Schengen) coincides with that objective, without prejudice to the measures to be taken to implement the provisions of the Treaty”.13 Between the original signing of the Convention in 1990 and its implementation in March 1995, Spain and Portugal signed. Therefore, when the Schengen Convention entered into force it did so in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and in Spain and Portugal. 3. Incorporation into EU Law by the Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997 Following the entering into force of Schengen in 1995 a further six countries signed, including the non-EU states of Iceland and Norway.14 Italy had signed back in 1991 but checks at its internal borders were not abolished until October 1997.15 The Schengen Area was integrated into the EU’s legal and institutional framework via a protocol to the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam.16 The Publications Office of the European Union (POEU) explains that this ensured that the
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