1. Exhibition: Schengen: a Europe without borders?
  2. Introduction
Exhibition

Schengen: a Europe without borders?

Introduction

Photograph of a border on a white snow

On 14 June 1985, the state secretaries of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed an agreement that would lead to the creation of a Europe without internal border controls. The meeting took place in the small Luxembourgish municipality of Schengen, from which the agreement takes its name. Ten years later, the agreement entered into force. Today, the Schengen area comprises 29 countries, including 25 of the 27 EU Member States and all four European Free Trade Association member states.

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The Schengen area covers over 4 million km² and is populated by almost 420 million people. It is the world's largest travel area without internal border controls.

The Schengen Agreement is considered a milestone of European integration and has radically changed the functioning and perception of borders in Europe.It has influenced how border regions interact and how citizens enter and move within the European area. From the outset, the concept of internal freedom of movement was linked to a massive extension, standardisation and reinforcement of external border controls.

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With the increasing politicisation and securitisation of migration, the rise of transnational criminal and terrorist activities and, more recently, the emergence of public health challenges, the Schengen system is increasingly being called into question. Furthermore, the reintroduction of internal border controls is indicative of a broader phenomenon of renationalisation of common European policies and practices.

Sign "CONTROLE AVANCEZ ICI" next to a border marking pole. In the background green area.

Nevertheless, Schengen continues to serve as an identity marker and a fundamental pillar of the European Union. It exerts a profound influence on the cooperation between police and judicial authorities, legal systems, internal policies, and external relations of the member states. Above all, Schengen has a tangible influence on the lives of millions of European Union citizens.

Forty years after the Schengen Agreement was signed and thirty years after it came into force, this exhibition explores how the Schengen Agreement evolved, how it operates now, the impact it has had, and the challenges it faces today.