With all eyes on the Ukraine situation, I learned some interesting things about the EU and indeed the Schengen Agreement. The Schengen Agreement is the deal that allows free movement of people without passport controls within the EU and the wider European area.
The UK and Ireland currently have opt-outs.
Switzerland and Norway are two non-EU countries who are signed up to the agreement – which is handy for people commuting over the borders (for example Swiss who work at Basel airport… which is actually in France!).
As we can see from the map, the newer EU nations from Eastern Europe such as Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania are duty bound to allow free movement very soon. All three are signing up within the next couple of years.
I have travelled recently to Croatia and Bulgaria and found them superb places to visit. Imagine how much easier it would be without the long wait at the border and the stamping of passports. I also suspect that Romania’s tourism would benefit from this too as many are intrigued by Transylvania…
Perhaps one day we will have free movement across the entire world. But for that to happen social and economic problems have to be resolved… and also far more deeply routed issues revolving around territory and even ethnic or religious divides. This may seem impossible, but look at Europe 100 years ago. In June 1914 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo sparked the First World War. Then the unspeakable horrors of WW2 followed. Yet since 1945 Western Europe has not seen conflict on her doorstep and only the Balkans crises of the 1990s has seen war in Europe. So who knows what can be achieved?
However it will be achieved by globalisation, international trade, and boosting the standards of living for everyone, not just the West.
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