Eurofile – One big country: a Europe without borders

Fact of the day: Your palms are sweaty, your legs are shaky and your computer doesn’t like you any more. The symptoms are clear: you’ve got the travel bug.
So how difficult is to travel within the EU after accession? It’s not, as long as you’re a EU citizen of course.

After May 1, when we officially join the EU, Cypriots may travel to any of the 25 countries without a visa or the need to get their passport stamped.

Now, it gets a little confusing from here.

For Cypriot citizens, although you don’t need to get your passport stamped, you do need to identify yourself somehow either by showing your passport or ID card, depending on the country. For instance, the UK and Ireland still demand to see passports on entry. It is presumed, but not entirely certain (and believe me, I asked enough people) that you may travel to the remaining EU countries with only your ID. Once on the continent, you’ll find that land border controls no longer exist between countries within the Schengen Agreement.

After May, all EU citizens travelling to Cyprus need only their ID cards. This has been in operation for existing states for the last two years (a government official told me this was more to do with tourism ambitions than a desire to be first of the class again).

Now, what about non-EU citizens (third-country nationals)? Well, the Schengen Agreement has as its aim to eliminate internal borders and strengthen external borders. Currently, all EU member states (except the UK and Ireland) are members of the Schengen group. Denmark is half in, half out, while Norway and Iceland (non-EU states) are full members.

The key goal of the Agreement is to abolish internal border controls and create a common area of security and justice. Specifically it is concerned with: harmonising provisions relating to entry and stay in the Schengen area by third country nationals; asylum matters; measures to combat cross-border drugs-related crime; police co-operation and co-operation on judicial matters. The aim of the agreement is to provide non-EU citizens with a Schengen visa which would give them the right to travel throughout the Schengen area for up to three months without needing any checks. It makes the Schengen area one whole country for, let’s say, a Jordanian tourist.
At the heart of the scheme is the Schengen Information System (SIS) database, which allows all police stations and consular agents from the Schengen group to access data on specific individuals or vehicles and objects which are lost or stolen.

But EU accession does not mean automatic membership to the Schengen Agreement. A number of criteria need to be met before by the acceding countries before they can request membership. After which, a special committee assesses their preparedness and acts accordingly. Meanwhile, the EU is currently working on upgrading the SIS to accommodate more members.

Cyprus is scheduled to get its application reviewed in 2007 but, according to a source, participation in the Schengen can only happen once the new airport terminals have been built in Larnaca and Paphos. If they are not ready by then, the only other option is temporarily to adapt the existing ones.

For further information call freephone Europe Direct on 00800 67891011 or the European Institute on 8000 1112. For comments, email [email protected].

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.