Posted on 12/20/2007 1:33:05 PM PST by lizol
More European borders come down December 21st with Schengen Day
As of Friday December the 21st, nine of Europe’s newest members will finally be allowed to come and play with the big boys in the EU’s border free, Schengen zone. In Europe’s very own Spice Girl moment, East and West will finally reunite, as borders are pulled down across Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
If you’re interested in learning more of what these new Schengen countries have to offer would-be travellers, take a gander at New Europe in from the Cold.
However, surely the best away to enjoy the occasion is to have one hand in Germany with a Schnapps, one in Czech with a beer and one in Poland with a vodka, while still being able to see all three limbs.
Umm. Isn’t Malta an island? How can it have any borders?
They suck dry the Mediterranean?
Coming to a continent near you!
you are wrong. the “new” states shure will love open borders. it´s the “old” states which are worried.
There is not much fuss about it in FR among our Polish and German friends so far although it is indeed something fundamental that is happening here. I am well aware that most of the Poles here are at least critical upon the EU if not convinced opposers. Nevertheless it must be (even for the EU-antagonists) a great achievement that it is now possible to drive from northern Norway to Portugal without meeting one customs officer. If anyone remembers the pis*ed GDR (DDR - east Germany) or Polish customs and their dirty little games during the the cold war, he will agree that such a day is indeed worth to celebrate.
And it is important to ascertain the fact that this new freedom is the merit of the European Union and of nobody else. It might be true that some historical occurrences (i.e. Solidarnosc, the reunification of Germany) oder persons (i.e. Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan and Helmut Kohl) opened the path to this development, but the great idea of open boarders was originally born between the former EU-leaders of Belgium, France, West Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. They saw it as a exigence in a united Europe.
Naturally there was much resentment among common people to open boarders in the east of Germany in western Europe because of the still wide gap in earnings and wealth between eastern and western Europe in general and the problems that result out of this fact. Americans could compare it to their boarder in the South although the difference between Poland and Germany i.e. is not as big anymore as the difference between the US and Mexico. Therefore it is remarkable that it was possible to overcome these concerns and open the door to our neighbors in eastern Europe. It should be easy to understand that there is more benefit in the long term to keep boarders open since such is the basic requirement for freedom.
As I already said it - a day to celebrate.
Apart of that - Austrian is right. The concerns about open boarders were in western Europe not in the east.
The EU is a alliance of free members. It is even possible to step out. To give up sovereignty for a better and bigger system is not necessarily wrong, since the small European countries are not able to be competitive in the long term. We need open boarders and a common base in Europe. The old sectionalism is counterproductive.
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