Full Schengen is Coming Soon? (fingers crossed)

Yeah, it'll be great to be a new Schengen-Turkey corridor.....😁

Do you really find a short wait at the Greek border so irksome? We need to wake up in Europe and make our "boarders" much more secure, not less, FFS!

@JimJ

It's not the waiting. Just looking forward to not even thinking about it when crossing back and forth the "boarders".

@VillageLife

Don't count your chickens too soon!

From the beginning of this month until at least next April, the French have upped the checks on their Schengen borders for land, sea and air travel. So travellers from Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany and Italy will have to show a passport or national ID card. And it appears that non-EU nationals who are resident in France will need to show their cartes de séjour too.

There's Schengen and then there's Schengen.....😎

Hahaha, agree especially these days with politics. However I think we will be good, let's see in the new year!.

Germany has checks on all its borders, there are also checks on some of Austria and Hungary borders.

Sounds like you guys don't want Schengen

Sounds like you guys don't want Schengen - @VillageLife

It doesn't bother me either way. I go through checks every time I visit the UK.

Sounds like you guys don't want Schengen - @VillageLife

Sounds like a lot of Europe doesn't want Schengen. The problem with Free Movement is that it was supposed to be for all EU citizens, but how does that work if you don't check who's who?

I have no problems with checks, in fact I welcome them. "Free Movement" in reality is freedom of movement for those entitled to it...

There  is very little wait on the border with Greece. I recently went to Thessaloniki.

The border officers are fast and polite. It is a breeze.

Borders are needed so not too many criminals roam free in the EU zone(  Schengen or not).

@TonyFF

Too right: there are more than enough EU crooks to go round, including inside the Commission - we certainly don't need any more!

@JimJ

All EU citizens are entitled to freedom of movement - it's a given right (same for other similar freedom of movement schemes across the globe).

@JimJ
All EU citizens are entitled to freedom of movement - it's a given right (same for other similar freedom of movement schemes across the globe). - @VillageLife

The problem is that in order for Europe to be secure(-ish) there has to be some method of differentiating between those who are indeed EU citizens, and therefore entitled to move freely, and those who aren't. I think you'd agree that it's a tad tricky to just look at a car driving past and decide if the folks inside it are EU citizens or not, not to mention that many people are simultaneously EU citizens and wanted by the police.

So we have a situation where everyone gets to move freely, even those who don't have the right to do so, unless we check who's who. Free movement doesn't mean not checking anyone at all, it means not preventing those who have the right from exercising it, once they've demonstrated that they do indeed have this right.

I'm perfectly happy to have my documents checked if it means that Europe is that little bit safer, and I very much favour making ALL EU borders, both external and internal, considerably more secure than they are now. Those responsible for the security of Europe and the safety of its citizens are clearly asleep at the wheel - and have been for decades - while the Bulgarian authorities are outrageously laissez-faire at the best of times.

Hahaha well I will get my coat.....

Sounds like I am the only one looking forward to fixed boarder controls being removed (and hopefully more connections/routes between neighboring counties...and a few more international trains a day maybe).

Anyway.....let's see what happens.

@VillageLife

Not so fast. :-) You're absolutely correct that the Schengen Zone was supposed to abolish INTERNAL border controls (e.g. between France and Germany and between Bulgaria and Greece, if they are both Schengen members). I agree with you that this is a very good (or, at least, a very convenient) thing.

Freedom of Movement is an attribute of an EU passport. While a local residence right and visa-free travel right is an attribute of an EU residence permit, and visa-free travel right is an attribute of certain non-EU passports.

Whether you, personally, have such rights depends (as @JimJ rightly points out) on an inspection of your ID documents (passport, EU residence permit). The issue is when/where these checks take place. And, indeed, whether it's an immigration officer function (i.e. at an airport or internal/external land border crossing) or you enable (or require) certain locals to join in (i.e. employers at job interviews, police on routine traffic stops, hospital staff when you seek treatment).

There are some, like @JimJ I suppose, who are big on the too-much-immigration issue and support more stringent internal border controls. However, I don't think it's the official EU/Schengen position. As far as I'm aware, they still want to increase security at the EXTERNAL borders (e.g. Bulgaria and Turkey, or Hungary and Serbia, or Frankfurt airport on a flight to USA), and find ways to cooperate with NEIGHBOURING (non-EU) countries so that they reduce the flows of illegal migrants to their border. While also introducing a better tracking system with the ETIAS (and EES), the EU's equivalent of America's ESTA.

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/index_en

IF you have secure external borders, then, in theory, anyone (like you or me) who wants to pop down to Greece for a spot of sunshine has legal travel rights. Because we're already sitting in Bulgaria as locals (Bulgarian passport/National ID card), or we were legally admitted at the border (with our EU passport, OR our non-EU passport with our EU residence permit, or Bulgarian residence permit, OR our non-EU passport with visa-free travel rights and/or a Schengen/country visa). It certainly seems like a worthy goal, but whether it's possible long-term remains to be seen.

Officially, my Bulgarian residence permit only allows me 90 days in Greece. But with no border checks (between Greece and Bulgaria) I'm not sure how they'd spot my overstay, or what penalties would apply. However, I think it's fair to say that the EU is far less concerned with this type of problem than, say, Somalians (or anyone else holding a non-EU passport that has no EU visa-free rights and strictly require a valid visa) being admitted into Bulgaria.

Similarly, I suppose a (rich) American (or a Brit) flying into Spain has 90 days visa-free. If there are no internal border checks, then he'd have 30-odd countries to hang out in for the next 20 years, as an illegal immigrant. Again probably not the top priority for the EU. And most Brits/Americans wouldn't do this because being an illegal immigrant does have lots of problems (can't work, can't access public health services, can't get a driving license, etc.) AND sooner or later you will hit an external border (or a nosy policeman) and find there are substantial penalties for overstaying the 90 days.

Separately, some countries (e.g. Germany) have introduced (or re-introduced, or never abolished) some border checks. It seems like a politically-driven (i.e. illegal immigration) decision, rather than an official EU/Schengen position. But I'm not a Schengen expert, so I don't know if this is something a bit naughty (I.e. they SHOULD have no border check), or if it's the allowed local implementation decision (i.e. each country can decide whether or not to have a particular check at a particular border). Although that might change, especially if @JimJ is a Euro-MP or otherwise influential (or his views are typical of the majority of the EU population). Or, perhaps, you just need a couple of big countries (e.g. Spain and France) to have full checks at all their borders, for most other EU country to follow suit.

Thanks for the long response, interesting read.

@VillageLife

Read the news not headlises

@SimCityAT

Haha thanks! And don't forget....watch out for the boogeyman!!.

@SimCityAT
Haha thanks! And don't forget....watch out for the boogeyman!!. - @VillageLife

Too late - the bl@@dy Yanks already re-elected him! 🤣