Post by Jaga on Mar 30, 2008 13:47:34 GMT -7
A friend of mine just wrote to me that it feels very different when you cross the boarder now without checking any documents. Here is more about new boardless Europe:
www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-borders_sidebar_hundleymar30,1,5773462.story
ABOARD THE WARSAW-BERLIN EXPRESS — Once upon a time, when rail travelers crossed the Polish-German frontier, their passports and belongings were scrutinized by stern Polish and German border police. Even in the 1990s, it felt like a movie from the 1930s.
These days, the Polish police are gone for good. The Germans are taking a long coffee break.
During a recent westbound trip, two German border policemen got on the train at the frontier. They headed straight for the first-class coach and sat down. One read the newspaper; the other plunged into a romantic novel. They didn't look up until two hours later when the train rolled into Berlin.
Asked if they were going to check anyone's passport, the one reading the newspaper replied with a curt "nein."
This is the new "borderless Europe," where it is possible to hop on a train or bus and travel from Portugal to Poland without showing your passport to anyone. Most of the frontier border posts in Western Europe have been gone for nearly a decade. Europe's eastern half is rapidly catching up. Only the gentle beeping of your mobile phone—and the arrival of a text message telling you that you've entered a new service area—lets you know that a national border has been crossed.
In the wake of the 20th Century's two world wars, which saw the rival powers of Europe invade, bomb, occupy and otherwise devastate each other's territory, the grand experiment of doing away with internal borders is, quite simply, astounding.
One of the European Union's guiding principles is "the free movement of people" across the borders of its 27 member states. Principle became reality in 1995 with the implementation of the Schengen agreement to eliminate border controls between seven countries in Western Europe. The list of countries joining the Schengen Zone has increased steadily since. Britain and Ireland are the notable holdouts.
Last December, nine members were added—Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta. The zone now stretches from the Atlantic to the EU's border with Russia, a territory of 1.65 million square miles and 400 million people.
...
www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-borders_sidebar_hundleymar30,1,5773462.story
ABOARD THE WARSAW-BERLIN EXPRESS — Once upon a time, when rail travelers crossed the Polish-German frontier, their passports and belongings were scrutinized by stern Polish and German border police. Even in the 1990s, it felt like a movie from the 1930s.
These days, the Polish police are gone for good. The Germans are taking a long coffee break.
During a recent westbound trip, two German border policemen got on the train at the frontier. They headed straight for the first-class coach and sat down. One read the newspaper; the other plunged into a romantic novel. They didn't look up until two hours later when the train rolled into Berlin.
Asked if they were going to check anyone's passport, the one reading the newspaper replied with a curt "nein."
This is the new "borderless Europe," where it is possible to hop on a train or bus and travel from Portugal to Poland without showing your passport to anyone. Most of the frontier border posts in Western Europe have been gone for nearly a decade. Europe's eastern half is rapidly catching up. Only the gentle beeping of your mobile phone—and the arrival of a text message telling you that you've entered a new service area—lets you know that a national border has been crossed.
In the wake of the 20th Century's two world wars, which saw the rival powers of Europe invade, bomb, occupy and otherwise devastate each other's territory, the grand experiment of doing away with internal borders is, quite simply, astounding.
One of the European Union's guiding principles is "the free movement of people" across the borders of its 27 member states. Principle became reality in 1995 with the implementation of the Schengen agreement to eliminate border controls between seven countries in Western Europe. The list of countries joining the Schengen Zone has increased steadily since. Britain and Ireland are the notable holdouts.
Last December, nine members were added—Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta. The zone now stretches from the Atlantic to the EU's border with Russia, a territory of 1.65 million square miles and 400 million people.
...