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The Eastern External Border of the EU

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The Eastern External Border of the EU The eastern external border of the EU A journey through the borderlands of the EU and its neighbours Olaf Kamphuis Nijmegen, July 2011 Borders are spatial and temporal records of relationships between local communities and between states (Wilson & Donnan, 1998: 5). Cover picture: Bridges across the external border of the EU between Narva (Estonia) and Ivangorod (Russia) (author’s photo, 2009) 2 The eastern external border of the EU A journey through the borderlands of the EU and its neighbours Olaf Kamphuis s0512079 Master thesis Human Geography Master specialization: Europe: Governance, Borders and Identities Radboud University Nijmegen Supervisor: Prof. Henk van Houtum Nijmegen, the Netherlands, July 2011 3 Summary In this thesis, I explore the materiality of the eastern external border of the European Union (EU). The eastern external border of the EU is the line which is geographically located between Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and the EU. The materiality of the border is recognizable and different at each place. It is a dynamic process which is being produced and reproduced in the same time. The Second World War has divided the European continent. The aftermath of the war was the start for more European cooperation in order to prevent such a war would ever happen again. Decades later the EU is the result of this increasing European cooperation. Currently there are 27 member states and most of them are part of the Schengen area as well. The EU is stimulating the freedom of movement of goods, capital, services and people within its own space. There is also a negative side to this internal openness. The freedom is ending at the external borders of the EU, which are being heavily controlled. This thesis focuses on the eastern external border of the EU. The importance of the line between the EU and non EU countries is becoming bigger as the border receives a lot of priority in many policy fields. The border is developing into a political instrument being used as a cartographic line to order. Satellite images will show a European continent with no clear beginning or end. The EU has territorialized a large share of the continent into EU space. This space has gradually expanded and the forecast is that the current eastern external borderline will be fixed for the next several years. The border divides the EU citizens from the “Other”. By the creation of an EU identity a distance is being created towards the non-EU citizen. This is the creation of a “soft” border in our mind. The creation of such a soft border is the starting point for the creation of the border in space. This line is being represented on maps and is taken for granted. The boundary on the map is being conceptualized into metal fences decorated with barbed wire. This is being legitimized by the thought we have to secure ourselves from the other. In this way the border is being produced and reproduced. The manmade shape of the border becomes the reality of what a border is and the dominant discourse. Different powers contribute to this process of bordering. The Schengen area is the space of internal freedom which is highly connected to the EU. The level of welfare and security within Schengen is high compared to EU’s neighbours. This difference in standard of life attracts many people to migrate into the Schengen area. A lot of institutional restrictions disable the possibility to travel across the borders of Schengen. This causes streams of migrants trying to enter the EU in semi legal ways. In order to prevent those people from entering the EU territory, EU’s external borders have become heavily guarded. The border is being seen in a context of “border management” and “security”. Large sums of money are being invested into the creation of a secure line. The EU is showing its interest beyond its own borders as well. However this is very relative compared to the importance of the border confirming. I want to see the concrete results of the contribution of different powers in the process of bordering during a one month trip along the border myself. 4 The trip showed me the diversity of the materiality of the border and the variety of places. The connection of a place with the border and their neighbour is different everywhere. This relation is mostly the result of a contested history. The presence of the border has a significant impact on a place. This is visible in the level of development, as the difference in welfare between both sides of the border is huge. Almost all the border regions are economically the weakest of their country. The already present general difference in income level between EU and non-EU causes a strong distinction between both sides of the border. Small cross border trade used to be a positive external effect of the presence of the border. The EU limited the amount of cigarettes and alcohol to take across the border in a way it is hardly profitable to benefit from it while trading. However older people still use this opportunity to receive a marginal amount of extra income. At some border crossings the local population can profit from a local simplified visa regime. This is different along the whole eastern external border of the EU. The low level of development in the borderlands is materially visible in the quality of infrastructure as well. The border infrastructure is often the best looking part of the borderlands. The border confirming receives more priority than the border transcending in terms of infrastructure. The amount of border crossings and public transport possibilities across the eastern external EU border is very limited. Moreover, there are long queues visible at several places in the borderland, where truck drivers can have to wait up to a week. This is all the result of the controlling function of the border. The demarcation of eastern external border of the EU shows a certain uniformity. The border infrastructure historically consisted in most cases merely of stones indicating the border. Over the years this infrastructure has been renewed towards a fence which is running along the whole external border stretch. On the EU side of the external border, the fence looks rather new. There have been cameras attached to the fence at many places as well. For example, half of the Slovakian border is completely controlled by thermo censors which notify each movement. The non EU side of the border is being controlled more by man power. Parts of the Soviet Union border infrastructure, such as watchtowers, are still in function. The high level of border control I noticed in Romania, where I was informed each place of the border can be reached by border police at five minutes at the most. Recent political developments have led to the postponing of the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria. This indicates the time of “fear” for the unknown other, where we as EU citizens are living in. The border is being used a protecting mechanism, rather than a space of opportunities. Residents living in the proximity of the border have to face the negative external effects of this. The eastern external border of the EU is a heterogeneous space which is alive, being lived and full of material examples of the border. Borders have been created and are being produced and reproduced. The materiality of the border is visible in the presence of border guards, detention centres, barbed wire, separated communities and numerous other examples at different scales of which an amount never will be public. The border is more than a line of demarcation. It is a dynamic process which is different everywhere. I want to argue that the high political and communal interest in the eastern external border of the EU as policy tool is too dominant compared to the attention the EU has on the material, mostly being negative effects, of the eastern external border of the EU. 5 Preface I started studying human geography at Radboud University in 2005. During my studies I became more and more fascinated by borders, especially in Eastern Europe. I will not forget what I noticed on the 10th of July 2006. On my way to do volunteering work in Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) I had to cross the Polish Ukrainian border. Sources informed it is the most practical to do this on foot between Medyka (Poland) and Shegini (Ukraine). I am shocked by the situation I find there. There is a queue which takes around four or five hours to cross the border. Mostly old people are waiting in the queue in order to trade cigarettes and alcohol. I see an old lady taking her pants off and putting cigarettes in her underwear without any shame. In the three hundred meter long zone of no-man’s-land between the Polish and Ukrainian border crossing point, people are trading and climbing across fences in order to return their country of origin. The border police notice this without making any intervention. For an unclear reason I am allowed by the border police to skip the line which reduces the time I need to cross the border significantly. The situation is comparable with the photo below. The only difference this that the photo has been produced in a Polish newspaper five years later. Not much seems to have changed. Picture 1.1: Pedestrians waiting to enter the EU (Gazeta.pl, 2011) I want to thank all people who supported me, writing this thesis: The people who I interviewed during my one month trip along the eastern external border of the EU, my family, friends and supervisor Henk van Houtum.
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