• About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Statutes
    • Board
    • Member
      • Corporate
      • Personal
    • Management
    • Become a Member
  • Programme
    • CEO Roundtable
    • Panel discussions and webinars
    • Cooperations
    • Stammtisch & Members’ talk
    • Lectures
    • Studies
  • Working Groups
    • Powering Europe: Competitive Energy Transition
    • Europe Future-Ready: Globally Competitive & Innovative capable
  • Young Leaders Advocacy Network
    • Mentoring Programme
    • Advocacy Seminars
    • Advocacy Webinars
    • Young Leaders Alumni
    • Young Leaders Voices
    • Rome Manifesto
      • The Manifesto
      • The Story behind the Manifesto
      • Partner Organisations
  • Events
    • Past events
  • DE
  • EN
  • DE
United Europe
United Europe
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Statutes
    • Board
    • Member
      • Corporate
      • Personal
    • Management
    • Become a Member
  • Programme
    • CEO Roundtable
    • Panel discussions and webinars
    • Cooperations
    • Stammtisch & Members’ talk
    • Lectures
    • Studies
  • Working Groups
    • Powering Europe: Competitive Energy Transition
    • Europe Future-Ready: Globally Competitive & Innovative capable
  • Young Leaders Advocacy Network
    • Mentoring Programme
    • Advocacy Seminars
    • Advocacy Webinars
    • Young Leaders Alumni
    • Young Leaders Voices
    • Rome Manifesto
      • The Manifesto
      • The Story behind the Manifesto
      • Partner Organisations
  • Events
    • Past events
  • DE
Join
  • News

The Board of Directors of United Europe on the Abrogation of the Schengen Agreement

  • June 14, 2020

On 14 June 1985, 35 years ago, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxemburg and the Netherlands laid the foundation for the European single market. In Luxemburg’s Schengen, they agreed that the internal borders of these countries could be crossed “at any point without checks on persons”. On 25 March 1995, the Schengen Agreement was signed by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Over the years, a total of 26 countries joined the agreement. According to the declaration, it should be “irreversible“.

Exactly 25 years after the signing, the borders in Europe were closed again. The Corona pandemic led to the suspension of one of the greatest achievements of the European unification process, the freedom to travel. Instead of working together across borders to overcome the crisis, an open Europe became a continent of nation states again. The fact that in this crisis, which affects all countries and peoples equally, it was not possible to find a European solution is a fatal signal, not only for coming crises and threats.

The suspension of the fundamental right of freedom of movement has various consequences, including the deepening of the economic recession, the emergence of resentment, a relapse into national egoisms and an extreme burden on the population on both sides of the borders. And it shows that the Schengen Agreement is not at all irreversible.

To ensure that the Corona pandemic does not leave any lasting damage on the process of European integration, the EU Commission must set clear time and regional guidelines for the future application of the Schengen rules, not least in order to move Europe forward economically and politically. For this reason, the Board of United Europe demands that the EU treats the possibility of free border crossings and thus the prerequisite of a functioning internal market as a top priority. To make this possible, it must issue clear, easily understandable rules of conduct with the support of the member states, which are binding for all EU countries.

We must strengthen the European Union. That is why we must not allow one of the most important pillars of the European integration process to be permanently damaged by external events, be they streams of refugees or pandemics.

The Board of Directors of United Europe e.V.
Günther H. Oettinger (President), Germany
Anthony Ruys, (Vice President), The Netherlands
Dr Jürgen Großmann (Treasurer), Germany
Carl Haglund, Finland
Baroness Jay of Paddington, United Kingdom
Marcus Lippold, United Kingdom
Zach Mecelis, Lithuania
Dr Hartmut Mayer, Germany
Friedrich Merz, Germany
Simone Menne, Germany
Dr Walter Schlebusch, Germany

  • share 
  • share 
  • share 
  • share 
  • save 
  • share 
  • share 
  • email 

p >=1 && c == 0

Other News
  • Review: United Europe Virtual Election Debrief with Günther H. Oettinger
    • June 23, 2024
  • Review: Working Group BRICS+ I 2nd Session hosted by the South African Embassy
    • November 29, 2024
  • ***Call for Application*** – Young Leaders Advocacy Seminar in Berlin “Europe’s Workforce Crisis: Challenges & Solutions
    • September 6, 2024
„Europe is a huge opportunity – but its solidarity has taken for granted. Europe must strengthen its “We-feeling” and connect for the digital future.“

Tina Müller
CEO Douglas

More prominent opinions
Search
Trending Posts
  • ***Call for Applications*** – Young Leaders Advocacy Seminar in Vienna “2024 Was A Defining Election Year – What’s Next For Europe?”
    • March 11, 2025
  • Review: The Europe Panel 2025 – An official side event of the Munich Security Conference
    • March 8, 2025
  • SAVE THE DATE: Virtual Debrief I The Outcome of the German Federal Election 2025: Consequences for Europe
    • March 10, 2025
  • Key Takeaways from the “Just Transition” Panel Discussion at the Global Solutions Summit 2025
    • May 12, 2025
  • Review: Impulse “Stronger Europe – How to Finance Competitiveness and Defense”
    • June 9, 2025
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Statutes
    • Board
    • Member
    • Management
    • Become a Member
  • Programme
    • CEO Roundtable
    • Panel discussions and webinars
    • Cooperations
    • Stammtisch & Members’ talk
    • Lectures
    • Studies
  • Working Groups
    • Powering Europe: Competitive Energy Transition
    • Europe Future-Ready: Globally Competitive & Innovative capable
  • Young Leaders Advocacy Network
    • Mentoring Programme
    • Advocacy Seminars
    • Advocacy Webinars
    • Young Leaders Alumni
    • Young Leaders Voices
    • Rome Manifesto
  • Events
    • Past events
  • DE
  • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Imprint
© United Europe e. V.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Vorlieben
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff ist für den rechtmäßigen Zweck der Speicherung von Präferenzen erforderlich, die nicht vom Abonnenten oder Benutzer angefordert wurden.
Statistics
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff, der ausschließlich zu statistischen Zwecken erfolgt. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
X