Schengen Agreement at 40: Will free movement within Europe endure?

Backlash against migrants, security threats fracture foundation of accord

- Jonathan Eyal

BRUSSELS - Few people - even in Europe - know where the real Schengen is; it is a tiny community in south-eastern Luxembourg, one of the continent's smallest states.

But everyone in Europe and almost everyone coming to the continent from elsewhere around the world has personally experienced what the village's name has been synonymous with: the free movement of people and goods between the member states of the area of the same name.

Or, simply put, a border-free Europe, where people travel without having to produce any document or explain the purpose of their journey. In many countries, even the physical location of national borders is no longer very obvious; markers for borders that once people fought and died for are now just historical curiosities.

On June 14, Europe will mark with pride the 40th anniversary since the signing of the Schengen Treaty.

All opinion surveys indicate that the border-free benefits of the agreement brought to the continent are still considered the most significant and popular achievement of European integration.

Still, the celebrations will be muted. For although Schengen remains highly popular - there was joy in Romania and Bulgaria when these two nations became full members of the Schengen Area in January 2025 - European officials are debating whether the arrangement, as originally conceived and currently applied by its 29 member states, can survive in an age of heightened international security threats and massive migratory pressures.

The story of the Schengen Agreement is a classic example of both the excellent and infuriating aspects of Europe.

One of the original principles of the European Union since its foundation in the late 1950s was the idea of the free movement of people and goods. But for many decades after the EU came into being, border controls were still enforced.