What is the Schengen area?

1On June 24th, 985, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed the Schengen Agreement in the border town of Luxembourg. According to the agreement, its member countries issue visas in a unified format for short-term stays, that is, Schengen visas. Once an applicant obtains a visa from a certain country, he can travel freely in all Schengen member countries within the validity period and stay period of the visa, but he must report to the local area within three days from the second country.

In order to establish an area with external borders and without internal border inspection, all participating countries must implement the same entry standards. For example, this means that all Schengen countries must implement uniform regulations on which third-country nationals need to apply for visas. On the other hand, visas held by tourists are generally valid in all Schengen countries. In addition, all participating countries must have confidence in the ability of other countries to conduct appropriate border inspections. This is why the Schengen Package Agreement also includes provisions for the implementation of external border inspection measures in the Schengen area.

The Schengen package also includes provisions on cooperation between police authorities of participating countries. * * * The same information system enables the police in Schengen countries to issue warnings about wanted persons, missing persons and stolen property.

The EU's cooperation in judicial and internal affairs has gradually expanded beyond the scope of Schengen cooperation. This trend will develop in the direction of strengthening cooperation between police and procuratorial organs, unifying civil and criminal legislation and implementing immigration and asylum policies. However, the Schengen Agreement does not mean that Norway will automatically become a part of expanding cooperation.

The main contents of the Schengen agreement include: opening borders to each other, including no more border inspections for citizens between signatories to the agreement; Once foreigners are allowed to enter the "Schengen area", they can freely pass through the territory of the signatory countries of the agreement; Establish a system of police cooperation and mutual legal assistance.

1June, 990, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece joined the Schengen Agreement. In the same month, eight member countries signed the Schengen Convention, which contains more than 100 clauses. At the same time, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and other countries have also signed a series of specific treaties, such as "coordinating immigration and asylum policies", "strengthening police and judicial cooperation" and "establishing information archives centers".

1991June, France set up a supervisory committee for the Schengen Agreement to investigate the preparations for the implementation of the Schengen Agreement in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany and Belgium. 1994, the executive Committee of the Schengen Agreement decided to extend the Schengen Agreement originally planned to be implemented in the summer of 1992 to 1995. 1On March 26th, 995, the Schengen Agreement came into effect.

1996 In February, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland signed relevant agreements to join the Schengen Agreement. 1In April 1998, Austria fully opened its borders with Italy and Germany.

The Swiss referendum also adopted the Dublin Agreement. The main content of the agreement is to restrict refugees from applying for asylum in only one country.

1On March 26th, 1995, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg formally implemented the Schengen Agreement, canceling the inspection of people and goods in transit.

1996101On October 22nd, the Executive Committee of the Schengen Agreement held a meeting in Luxembourg. 10 the ministers of the signatory countries discussed the application of the five Nordic countries to join the Schengen Agreement. Ministers from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland who applied to join the Schengen Agreement attended the meeting as observers. The meeting first discussed the requests of Norway and Iceland, two non-EU member States, to join the Schengen Agreement. In view of the special circumstances of these two countries, the meeting reached a political agreement on their accession to the Schengen Agreement. In addition, the meeting also drafted protocols and agreements for Denmark, Sweden and Finland to join the Schengen Agreement.

1996 12 19, the ministerial meeting of the Schengen agreement was held in Luxembourg, at which Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland formally signed the agreement to join the Schengen agreement. Finland and Denmark, as members of the European Union, will become full members of the Schengen Agreement after the signing of the Agreement. Norway and Iceland, which are not members of the European Union, will join the Schengen Agreement as "associate members" under a special agreement. So far, only Britain and Ireland are outside the agreement.

Since the early morning of April 1998 and 1, the borders between Italy and Austria, Italy and France, and Austria and Germany have been fully opened, which indicates that Austria and Italy have started to fully implement the Schengen Agreement, and the participating countries of the agreement have finally achieved full border opening.

1998 On April 16, the Swedish Parliament passed a bill on Sweden's accession to the Schengen Agreement, and Sweden officially became a member of the Agreement. On March 200 1 March1day, the Schengen Agreement came into effect in Sweden.

By April 1998, the European Union 15 countries also signed the Schengen Agreement, but the agreement only came into force in nine countries: Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Austria, Portugal and Spain.

1On April 26th, 1999, the Norwegian Parliament approved the agreement reached between the government and the EU on 1998' s accession to the Schengen Agreement. This means that Norway and EU countries will open their borders to each other and realize the free movement of people. Among the five Nordic countries, Norway and Iceland are not members of the European Union, but associated countries of the Schengen Agreement.

At 0: 00 on March 25th, 20001year, the Schengen Agreement came into effect in five Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland). From now on, citizens of the five Nordic countries can pass through the signatory countries of the agreement without being inspected by the border customs.

On June 5, 2005, in the referendum, the Swiss people approved Switzerland to join the Schengen Agreement with a simple majority of 54.6%. After two years of preparation, Switzerland will officially become a Schengen country. By then, the Schengen Agreement will have 16 member countries.

From 65438+February 2007 to 2 1, the participating countries of the Schengen Agreement will be expanded from 15 to 24 countries, and nine countries, namely Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta, which only joined the EU in 2004, will also become members of the Schengen family. The "boundary" of the Schengen Agreement will be expanded again.