re: "Germany and France are not happy with Schengen"

Helen at Your Freedom and Ours ("A blog about politics and other things... ...but always from the right perspective.") noted dissension in the ranks of the Schengen zone.

Money quote(s):

"Dear me, what is it I see? A certain lack of faith in the effectiveness of the Schengen agreement. It seems that Germany and France are discussing the possibility of reintroducing national border controls to deal with illegal immigration. But was (not) Schengen and the general common border policy supposed to be the best weapon against illegal immigration?"

The evaporation of national border controls within the (European) Schengen zone puts the entire burden of illegal immigration on periphery states (plus international sea- and airports). It also means that residency restrictions on asylum seekers, once admitted to any state in the Schengen zone, are illusory.

4/21

re: "You Can Have a Welfare State, or You Can Have Open Borders, But ."

Kenneth Anderson at Opinio Juris ("a forum for informed discussion and lively debate about international law and international relations") shows how Europe's experience parallels our own.

Money quote(s):

"This opinion piece addresses the same general concern as that book, updated to today: immigration and borders in Europe. In many ways, after all, at least alongside the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is the startling re-introduction of border controls in Continental Europe, and a call by Sarkozy and Berlusconi for a revision of the famous Schengen agreement removing border controls among twenty-two European states (not including the UK and Ireland)."

Be sure to read the quoted passages from the cited article. One slice of that:

"The Schengen agreements, signed in 1985 and 1990, permit
passport-free travel within 22 continental countries of the European Union (Britain and Ireland are among the exceptions), as well as non-Union signatories. Along with the euro, Schengen is Europe’s symbol, a milestone in its integration — on a continent long hemmed in by nationalism and bureaucracy, an Italian can travel to Paris without showing papers or changing money. And it’s growing: the European Parliament this week voted overwhelmingly to recommend extending Schengen to the European Union’s two newest members, Bulgaria and Romania."

JG - First-class and second-class Caricom citizens?

Jamaica Gleaner

First-class and second-class Caricom citizens?


Published: Sunday February 22, 2009


Norman Girvan, Contributor


Norman Girvan


I must confess to being conflicted by the news that Schengen visa requirements are soon to be lifted for four Caricom countries (as reported on the Caribbean Netnews website). Like many others who have had to apply for a Schengen visa for even the shortest of visits, I find the procedures onerous, intrusive and demeaning.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"I wonder whether the measure is not a further step towards the establishment of first- and second-class citizens, and even of first- and second-class countries, within Caricom. There is a sense in which such a situation already exists de jure with respect to Haiti (whose citizens are required to have visas to visit many other Caricom states) and de facto with respect to Guyanese, who are regularly hassled when attempting to exercise their Treaty rights to travel freely within the region."