As of 12:01 a.m. on Friday, December 21, the European Union expanded its borderless Schengen area to 9 countries that joined the EU in 2004, mostly from the former Soviet bloc. Intra-EU borders have been open to free trade and visa-free travel since the time leading up to the accession, but now the citizens of these new member countries can move across the EU without border controls.
The dismantling of border posts was largely ceremonial, but its historical implications are immense. Peaceful removing of border controls between, for instance, Poland and Germany is something that hardly anyone would have fathomed just a few decades back. 68 years ago bloody struggle raged over this frontier, and only 18 years ago the West and the East remained separated by the seemingly impenetrable wall. Certainly the political and cultural differences remain on both sides of the border. But what seemed like a pipe dream a generation or two ago is becoming reality today.
However, the expansion of the Schengen zone is about more than symbols. It shows something very practical as well: the benefits of economic and political openness outweighing the baggage of difficult history and destructive ideologies. The Cold War division of Europe clearly illustrated how institutions enabling economic and political freedom outperformed the systems that denied those freedoms. And the post-1989 transformation in Central Europe proved that reforms are possible even if they are not easy.
Published Date: December 26, 2007