How much do you know about present Europe?

[Jaga]

What is so called "Schengen agreement"? What does it mean that Poland is in "Schengen zone" or is one of the Schengen countries?

where is Schengen?

[pieter]

Schengen

Schengen is a small wine-making village and commune in far south-eastern Luxembourg, near the point where the borders of Germany, France, and Luxembourg meet. Other villages within the commune include Remerschen and Wintrange.
As of 2005, the village has a population of 425.
The village became famous on 14 June 1985, when the Schengen Agreement was signed. To use this name recognition, the council of the commune of Remerschen decided on 18 January 2006 to rename the commune to Schengen. The Chamber of Deputies voted on 13 July 2006 a law allowing the change of name, which was published on 30 August 2006. The law took effect three days later, and the name of the commune of Remerschen was changed to Schengen as of 3 September 2006.

[pieter]

That Poland is part of the Schengen agreement means that Poles can travel all over Europe without having to use travel documents, visa and etc. Poland is part of the European Union and shares the benefits and the responsabilities of that. That it is part of Schengen means that it has to secure it's borders and allows citizens of other EU states to enter it's territory freely, like other members should do with Polish citizens. There are trade, import & export, customs, justice and European Union laws in the Schengen Agrement.


Schengen Agreement

The term Schengen Agreement is used for two agreements concluded between European states in 1985 and 1990 which deal with the abolition of systematic border controls between the participating countries. By the Treaty of Amsterdam, the two agreements themselves and all decisions that have been enacted on their basis have been incorporated into the law of the European Union. This body of legal provisions is referred to as the Schengen Acquis. Subsequent amendments to that acquis, including the Schengen Agreements themselves, have been made in the form of European Union regulations. The main purpose of the establishment of the Schengen rules is the abolition of physical borders among European countries.
The Schengen rules apply among most European countries, covering a population of over 400 million and a total area of 4,268,633 km² (1,648,128 sq mi). They include provisions on common policy on the temporary entry of persons (including the Schengen Visa), the harmonisation of external border controls, which are coordinated by the Frontex agency of the European Union, and cross-border police and judicial co-operation.
A total of 29 states, including 25 European Union states and four non-EU members (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland), are bound to the full set of rules in the Schengen Agreement (as amended), and 24 have fully implemented its provisions so far. Ireland and the United Kingdom were, at the time of the implementation of the Schengen acquis into EU law, the only EU members that did not sign up to the original Schengen Convention of 1990 and retained a right to opt out of the application of the rules after their conversion into European Union law. Thus, they have not ended border controls with other EU Member States, this being the core purpose of the Schengen Agreement, but apply the provisions relating to police and judicial co-operation which form part of the Schengen acquis.
Border posts and checks have been removed between the states which form the Schengen area. A common Schengen visa allows tourists or other visitors access to the area. Holders of residence permits to a Schengen state enjoy the freedom of travel to other Schengen states for a period of up to three months.

[uncltim]

Ive always wondered about this. When the EU was being formed did the people fully understand that law enforcement, taxation, and national sovereignty were changing? Was there opposition? I recall that when I worked with Europeans from various countries and asked them about it they would get kind of nervous. Eventually, I would ask if they were creating a new country and populating it with states that used to be countries. That statement usually got them talking! Just curious about any personal experiences of people in Europe at the time.

Tim

[Jaga]

Pieter,

thanks for doing more research on Schengen agreement and Schengen settlements. All of us should be aware what is going on in Europe!

[pieter]

Jun 15, 2008 6:53:25 GMT -7 uncltim said:

Ive always wondered about this. When the EU was being formed did the people fully understand that law enforcement, taxation, and national sovereignty were changing? Was there opposition? I recall that when I worked with Europeans from various countries and asked them about it they would get kind of nervous. Eventually, I would ask if they were creating a new country and populating it with states that used to be countries. That statement usually got them talking! Just curious about any personal experiences of people in Europe at the time.

Tim

Jim,

Many people are just indifferant about Europe, because first they feel that they are Dutch (a cititzen of the Netherlands), German, Polish, French or Italian, than they feel connected to the region or province, city, town or village they are staying, and where many generations of their ancesters lived. European are regionalists, more than they are Nationalists or federalists. Europe simply does not have the Federal tradition the USA has, with it's Union, US Constitution and Bill of rights. We Europeans are ethnically, culturally and politically devided. We have the language barriers that makes Europeans strangers for one another.
For instance an Italian can be as foreign to a Duchman as an American is. Most people do not feel a European bond. I come from a family who is spread over Europe (Holland, Poland Belgium, France and Denmark), America and Sout-Africa. That makes me feel more European and Cosmopolitan than many of my fellow Dutch who have regional and National identities, whom family often speaks a regional dialect (differant from National Dutch) and whom are regional rooted. In recent years the Dutch and the French voted against the EU constitution, blocking it in a way. That were Nationalist reactions, but also signs of protests against the National political elites, who were/are Pro EU (Constitution). A lot of the voters voted No out of dissatisfaction with their present government, and because they were against the entering of Turkey (a Muslim country) in the EU. Many people were also not glad with the entering of Central- and Eastern-European countries in the EU. Italy and the Netherlands for instance have problems with Rumanian, Bulgarian and Polish crime in their countries.
That lead to xenophobic and hostile attitudes towards our central- and Eastern European brethern & sisters. Ordinary people do not know much about the complicated European laws,
taxation and the loss of National souvernigthy. People don't know much about the benefits of the very progressive European legislation and the good the European structural funds did for the poorer regions. That for instance the Portugese economy was liften. That the infrastructure of Poland can be improved like in other regions, and that there are good policies for European national parks and wildlife like in the USA.

Pieter