Bringing down the borders

Expanding the Schengen zone eastward brings opportunities and threats to its newcomers, writes Judith Crosbie.

Last month’s expansion of the Schengen zone to include nine new members was the highlight of a project started in 1985 to create a zone of free movement in Europe. Along with greater economic and political cohesion, lifting internal borders has come to represent one of the cornerstones of EU membership for citizens.

The project started with five member states - France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - agreeing to abolish internal border checks. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Sweden signed up in the subsequent years.

The process led to the removal of internal borders in 1995 and initially involved France, the reunified Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal. The project was taken on at EU level and included in the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997.

Along with the common travel area came common checks on people entering the zone, harmonisation of conditions of entry and visas for short stays, co-ordination of surveillance of borders and common rules for examining the application of asylum-seekers.

The Schengen Information System (SIS), by which computer systems between member states are linked up to track information on people wanted, missing or barred from the EU and on stolen items, was also set up.

When the ten new member states joined the EU in May 2004, the prospect of lifting the internal borders for the eight eastern and central European states was a hugely symbolic event. Having spent decades separated from the rest of Europe by the Iron Curtain, free movement between neighbouring countries was for many citizens an important attraction of EU membership.

But it became clear after some months that the expansion of Schengen would not be as smooth and easy as some had hoped. Already in late 2004 there were doubts over how prepared some of the new member states would be to bring their border checks in line with Schengen standards. Schengen Information System II, an upgraded computer system to store biometric data, which was designed to allow the expansion of Schengen to include the new member states, was also delayed.

Difficulties with contractors and an audit showing inadequate project staffing levels in the Commission led to worries about the future of Schengen expansion. By September 2006 it was apparent that a deadline set at the previous June meeting of EU leaders for SIS II to come online in April 2007 and for the Schengen borders to come down in October 2007 would not be met. Delays as far off as 2009 prompted new member states to accuse the Commission and the ‘older’ EU countries of treating their citizens differently and not trusting them.

"I perceive these initiatives as the initiatives aimed at delaying our integration with Schengen at any cost," said Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico. "If we are a fully-fledged member of the European Union, I am asking why I am still being harassed by someone at the Austrian border," he added.

Portugal then suggested expanding the Schengen borders using the current computer system, to be known as SISoneforall, which put the project back on track for borders to come down by January 2008. "The Portuguese saw this coming and put the plan in place to avoid a big mishap in their presidency," said Hugo Brady, a research fellow with the London-based Centre for European Reform.

Not only did the technicalities have to be guaranteed, evaluations carried out in late 2006 showed that work had to be carried out in some of the new member states on border posts, airports and data protection to ensure that the project could go ahead.

After summer 2007 the process was on track, with land and sea border posts expected to come down ahead of schedule - in time for Christmas with a date set of 21 December. Airport borders are scheduled to come down after March.

Dragutin Mate, the interior minister of Slovenia, current holder of the EU presidency, said that for villages that were split by borders, for ethnic minorities living beyond national boundaries and for towns that suffered economically because of the presence of borders, the expansion of Schengen was vital. "Our citizens are now equal with the other citizens of European countries and you can freely move. Now we have a situation where somebody from Slovenia can travel to Lisbon by car and from Lisbon to Vilnius and nobody will stop them," he said.

But despite a focus on the positives there may be some downsides for the new member states. Piotr Kazmierkiewicz, an expert with the Warsaw-based Institute of Public Affairs, points to fears highlighted in Poland over increasing labour shortages, since workers from countries like Ukraine will now have travel visas valid for all Schengen zone countries. With Polish workers already earning higher wages in other parts of the EU, their Ukrainian counterparts may follow them, with work permits or without, thus leaving Poland’s building sites and farms empty. "Workers could use the Schengen visas to go further west," he said.

Schengen timeline

1985: West Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg sign agreement in the Luxembourg town of Schengen on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders

1990: The Schengen Convention is signed, implementing the Schengen Agreement of 1985. Reunification of Germany

1990-92: Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece sign the Schengen Convention

1995: The Schengen Convention comes into force, abolishing checks at the internal borders of the signatory states. Austria signs the Schengen Convention

1996: Denmark, Finland and Sweden sign the Schengen Convention. Although they are not in the EU, Iceland and Norway sign the Convention by virtue of prior agreements between the Nordic countries on the abolition of border controls

1997-98: Controls are abolished between Schengen area and Austria and Italy

1999: The Amsterdam treaty comes into force. The Schengen acquis is integrated into the EU by means of a protocol, which also specifies that the UK and Ireland may take part in all or some of the Schengen arrangements

2000: Controls are abolished at the airport and sea borders with Greece

2002: Ireland’s application for partial participation in Schengen is approved

2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia join the EU and partly apply the Schengen provisions

2004: Switzerland signs an agreement on its association with Schengen

2004: The UK starts implementing some of the Schengen provisions

2006: EU leaders agree to lift Schengen internal borders to the new member states in October 2007 but delays with the SIS II system make that date seem unlikely. Portugal proposes a plan to expand the current technical system and the project is put back on track. Nine of the ten new member states that joined the EU in 2004 will be involved in the expansion, with Cyprus saying it will not be ready until SIS II comes on board. Liechtenstein initials a protocol on its accession to the Swiss association agreement.

2007: Bulgaria and Romania accede to the EU and partly apply the Schengen provisions. They aim to join Schengen in 2010

• In October 2007 interior ministers formally approve the lifting of internal land and sea controls with the nine states from 21 December. Passport checks at airports will come to an end after March 2008

Expanding the Schengen zone eastward brings opportunities and threats to its newcomers, writes Judith Crosbie.