Schengen Agreement
About the Schengen Agreement
France, Germany, and Benelux agreed to abolish internal border checks, implemented 1995, absorbed into EU law by Amsterdam 1997. Schengen became the tangible EU benefit, 400 million people crossing borders freely. External border strengthening, the Schengen Information System, compensated. Migrant crisis 2015 and COVID temporarily restored some borders, and terrorism debates test it, but the zone remains the world largest free travel area, 29 states.
Related Treaties
Single European Act
1986First major revision of Rome, launched the Single Market program by 1992, 300 directives removing physical, technical, and fiscal...
Sino-British Joint Declaration
1984Deng and Thatcher agreed Hong Kong handover 1997, One Country Two Systems, capitalism and liberties unchanged for 50 years until...
Maastricht Treaty
1992Created the European Union, the three pillars structure, and the euro path. EU citizenship established, foreign policy and...
Merger Treaty
1965Brussels institutional consolidation merging the EEC, Euratom, and ECSC executives into a single Commission and Council. It...