Dan Dare
08-14-2008, 01:38 AM
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/5383/schengenkj7.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The Schengen Area
Now that practically every other country in the EU/EEA is either a member or shortly to join the Schengen Area, should Ireland opt out of the Common Travel Area and join in also?
Since the UK is unlikely to sign up to Schengen Agreement in the foreseeable future, the dilemma for Ireland is whether to preserve the CTA or joing Schengen. If it opts for the latter then Irish citizens will be subject the immigration controls not just when arriving in the mainland UK, but also when travelling into Northern Ireland.
Since one of the reasons why Ireland is not already part of Schengen is the political imperative of maintaining the fiction that the island is a single polity (or eventually will become one), the notion of the re-institution of ‘internal’ border controls is anathema. Various trial balloons ( http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2007/1224/1197997311821.html) have been floated touting the idea that that Ireland ‘as a whole’ (ie the Republic and Northern Ireland) could join Schengen without affecting the political status of the North, but that would then entail that British citizens in Northern Ireland would be subject to immigration control when travelling to the rest of the UK.
A tricky one, this.
The Common Travel Area and the Schengen Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area#The_Common_Travel_Area_and_the_Schengen_Area)
In 1985 five member states of the then European Economic Community signed the Schengen Agreement on the gradual dropping of border controls between their respective countries. This agreement provided for the extension of the Benelux Passport Free Zone to France and Germany, broadly speaking, along the same lines as the Common Travel Area albeit one formalised in the form of the Schengen Treaty. Although the treaty was not implemented until 1995, two years later during the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference, all European Union member states except the United Kingdom and Ireland, and two non-member states Norway and Iceland had signed the Schengen Agreement. During those negotiations, which lead to Amsterdam Treaty and the incorporation of Schengen into the main body of European Union law, Britain and Ireland obtained an opt-out affirming their right to maintain systematic passport and immigration controls at their frontiers. If either or both the United Kingdom and Ireland were to join Schengen the Common Travel Area would come to an end. If one were to join without the other, the joining country would have to exercise border controls vis-à-vis the other thus ending the zone. If both were to join all the functions of the area would be subsumed into the Schengen provisions and the Area would cease to have any separate existence.
Britain has always opposed the lowering of its border controls as they believe their island status makes them better able to enforce immigration controls than continental European countries with "extensive and permeable land borders".[20] In contrast, Ireland, while not signing the Schengen Treaty, has always looked more favourably on joining but has not done so in order to maintain the Common Travel Area and its open border with Northern Ireland.[21] (Although somewhat paradoxically, in 1997 Ireland imposed selective identity and immigration controls on anyone arriving from the United Kingdom[17], measures which would not have been permitted if both countries were part of the Schengen Area). This is a position which is reflected in the Schengen opt-out secured by Britain and Ireland in the Amsterdam Treaty. While the protocol applies unconditionally to the United Kingdom, it only applies to Ireland for as long as the Common Travel Area is maintained.[22]
The Schengen Area
Now that practically every other country in the EU/EEA is either a member or shortly to join the Schengen Area, should Ireland opt out of the Common Travel Area and join in also?
Since the UK is unlikely to sign up to Schengen Agreement in the foreseeable future, the dilemma for Ireland is whether to preserve the CTA or joing Schengen. If it opts for the latter then Irish citizens will be subject the immigration controls not just when arriving in the mainland UK, but also when travelling into Northern Ireland.
Since one of the reasons why Ireland is not already part of Schengen is the political imperative of maintaining the fiction that the island is a single polity (or eventually will become one), the notion of the re-institution of ‘internal’ border controls is anathema. Various trial balloons ( http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2007/1224/1197997311821.html) have been floated touting the idea that that Ireland ‘as a whole’ (ie the Republic and Northern Ireland) could join Schengen without affecting the political status of the North, but that would then entail that British citizens in Northern Ireland would be subject to immigration control when travelling to the rest of the UK.
A tricky one, this.
The Common Travel Area and the Schengen Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area#The_Common_Travel_Area_and_the_Schengen_Area)
In 1985 five member states of the then European Economic Community signed the Schengen Agreement on the gradual dropping of border controls between their respective countries. This agreement provided for the extension of the Benelux Passport Free Zone to France and Germany, broadly speaking, along the same lines as the Common Travel Area albeit one formalised in the form of the Schengen Treaty. Although the treaty was not implemented until 1995, two years later during the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference, all European Union member states except the United Kingdom and Ireland, and two non-member states Norway and Iceland had signed the Schengen Agreement. During those negotiations, which lead to Amsterdam Treaty and the incorporation of Schengen into the main body of European Union law, Britain and Ireland obtained an opt-out affirming their right to maintain systematic passport and immigration controls at their frontiers. If either or both the United Kingdom and Ireland were to join Schengen the Common Travel Area would come to an end. If one were to join without the other, the joining country would have to exercise border controls vis-à-vis the other thus ending the zone. If both were to join all the functions of the area would be subsumed into the Schengen provisions and the Area would cease to have any separate existence.
Britain has always opposed the lowering of its border controls as they believe their island status makes them better able to enforce immigration controls than continental European countries with "extensive and permeable land borders".[20] In contrast, Ireland, while not signing the Schengen Treaty, has always looked more favourably on joining but has not done so in order to maintain the Common Travel Area and its open border with Northern Ireland.[21] (Although somewhat paradoxically, in 1997 Ireland imposed selective identity and immigration controls on anyone arriving from the United Kingdom[17], measures which would not have been permitted if both countries were part of the Schengen Area). This is a position which is reflected in the Schengen opt-out secured by Britain and Ireland in the Amsterdam Treaty. While the protocol applies unconditionally to the United Kingdom, it only applies to Ireland for as long as the Common Travel Area is maintained.[22]