The Schengen Treaty eliminates immigration checkpoints along the borders of participating European countries. Now 26 countries have signed on, including three non-European Union states. Will this treaty serve as a model for the stalled political union of a core Europe?
by Paul Kieffer
In November 1973, my employer in Düsseldorf, Germany, sent me to a printing company near London to deliver some 200,000 return envelopes that were to be stitched into a magazine we published. The editorial work on the magazine was done in Germany, but because of lower costs and other considerations, the printing was done in England.
On my trip, I drove a small delivery van stuffed with boxes of envelopes. When I reached the Dutch-German border near Arnhem, I had to show my passport to enter the Netherlands. I also had to pay a transit security deposit for the envelopes, since I told customs officials I would be taking them to England and not delivering them in the Netherlands.
When I reached the Dutch coast for the ferry trip over to England, I again had to show my passport as I left the Netherlands. I also did some more paperwork for Dutch customs to get my security deposit back.
Today I sometimes cross the Dutch-German border at the very same point as I did some 33 years ago. What a remarkable difference there is today! There are no immigration or customs officials checking passports at a booth on the autobahn. Instead, you just slow down a bit from the high speeds allowed in Germany to the 120 kilometers an hour (about 75 miles an hour) allowed in the Netherlands on the freeway and continue on your way.
What makes crossing the border today so different? Of course, one reason is what the European Union (EU) has become in the last 30 years. Goods can be bought and sold easily across national borders as long as they are not subject to restrictions (most are not).
