End of one Europe? Oh Mein Gott!
- Rashmee Roshan Lall
- Sep 13, 2024, 20:11 IST IST
A solid mid-life crisis is set to hit Europe’s nearly 40-year-old signature project – the Schengen free movement zone – from mid-Sep. Germany, which has the most land borders of any country in the 29-country Schengen area, will reimpose frontier checks with nine of its neighbours.
Those neighbours aren’t happy, as Poland and Austria, for starters, have already made clear. But it’s a dispiriting development no matter where you sit. For more than 425mn EU nationals, the new German restrictions mean Schengen’s promise of untrammelled borderless travel is now deferred, possibly to some undetermined point in the future. Ditto for non-EU nationals, not least Indians, visiting the European bloc as tourists, for business purposes, or living there as exchange students.
Those neighbours aren’t happy, as Poland and Austria, for starters, have already made clear. But it’s a dispiriting development no matter where you sit. For more than 425mn EU nationals, the new German restrictions mean Schengen’s promise of untrammelled borderless travel is now deferred, possibly to some undetermined point in the future. Ditto for non-EU nationals, not least Indians, visiting the European bloc as tourists, for business purposes, or living there as exchange students.
