COVID-19, another blow to Schengen?
| Published date | 01 October 2020 |
| Date | 01 October 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X20954568 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editorial
COVID-19, another blow
to Schengen?
Jorrit Rijpma*
In June of this year, the Schengen Agreement had its 35-year anniversary.
1
In normal times, this
would be cause for celebration. The freedom to travel from the Algarve to the North Pole,
unhindered by endless queues at the border, is rightly considered one of the European Union’s
major achievements. But these are unusual times. It is hard not to see the irony in commemorating
the principled decision to lift checks at the internal borders at a time where most Member States
have reintroduced those very checks to counter the spread of COVID-19.
2
To make things worse, in
many instances the reinstatement of border controls was coupled with restrictions on non-essential
travel, severely restricting th e right to free movement of EU citiz ens. The speed with which
Member States sealed themselves off and European citizens found themselves separated from
friends, family, neighbours and colleagues may have come as a surprise, used as we have become
to seamless travel between Member States. It serves as proof that Schengen should not be taken for
granted.
It is worthwhile to realise that it took over a decade to abolish border controls in Europe, first, as
a form of enhanced cooperation avant-la-lettre under international law, and only later, at the cost
of opt-outs for the UK, Ireland and Denmark, within the EU legal order. Premised on a logic of
mutual recognition, the decision to lift internal border checks still required a minimum of common
rules on matters such as controls at the external borders and police cooperation, which were meant
to address the perceived security deficit resulting from the absence of internal border controls. It
took five years to adopt these so-called ‘flanking measures’ in the Schengen Implementing Con-
vention (CISA).
3
It would take until 1997, three years after the official entry into force of the CISA,
before borderless travel became a reality, due to French concerns over narco- ´
etat the Netherlands.
4
* Professor of European Law (AFSJ) and Jean Monnet Professor, Europa Institute, Leiden Law School.
1. Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the
Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders,
[2000] OJ L239/13.
2. See for an overview: ‘Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control’, European Commission (2020), https://ec.europa.
eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengen/reintroduction-border-control_en.
3. Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985, [2000] OJ L239/13.
4. See for a detailed account: R. Zaiotti, ‘Revisiting Schengen: Europe and the emergence of a new culture of border
control’, 8 Perspectives on European Politics and Society (2007), p. 31-54.
Maastricht Journal of European and
Comparative Law
2020, Vol. 27(5) 545–548
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1023263X20954568
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