Here in Canada, there are lots of big cities south of us (In the USA), but we have to cross the border and provide passports. And In covid times, it was impossible to cross the land border. Now you can, but there are still a lot of restrictions because of Covid.
How often, for example, do you cross internal EU borders for serious (work, family visits) or mundane (getting cheaper gas, buying some snacks) reasons?
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I live in Luxembourg. The current wealth of the country is largely reliant of the Schengen agreement and I pass international borders at least once per week. Cross border commutes are mundane here as are shopping tours to the other side of the border and people cross our border just to buy cheap petroleum, tabacco and alcohol.
I mean, I often cross borders on accident to give you some idea.
The benefit isn’t necessarily not showing an ID but from the combination of the 4 pilars.
Free trade in the schengen area is many times more important.
The ability to live and work in any country.
etc.
“Going to get cheaper gass” or “not having to show ID when visiting family over the border” are frankly insultingly small benefits you’re thinking off. This entire thing is a lot grander than just that.
Oh yeah, before COVID I would hop over the border at least a few times a month. It’s convenient is what it is, fly without passport ques and whatnot.
I don’t live that near of a border, so not often.
But it’s very good for holidays. When I go to Austria I’m always glad I don’t have to go trough immigration at the border and can just walk over there.
When I was younger my dad told me that when he was my age and travelled with his parents to Austria they needed to go trough a border check while we could just drive over there (as a kid I was like “argh, why not now, border check sounds soooo cool).
Actually, while I and my family made a trip to the Bavarian alps, we lost track of where we should drive and almost drove into Austria by accident (turned around 40 metres before the sign post), so downsides exist aswell.
One of my more distant family members actually lives near the Austrian border and works in Austria, so for him this is surely a good thing. I think they also drive to Austria for some products not available in German supermarkets sometimes.
Personally it’s something very convenient, I’ve made several trips to Europe over the last few years (mostly those before Covid), and not needing a passport or being subject to controls has been an advantage.
I live in a western region of germany and younger people rather go to amsterdam than to berlin for a trip because of the proximity. I also knew someone who flew almost every weekend to barcelona when the flight tickets were cheap.
I’ve been on a few long road trips across Europe so quite a lot. Some of my best memories like chilling with random gopniks in Hungary to exploring an abandoned Italian town were possible because of Schengen. It’s opened my eyes to how beautiful the world and humans can be…. So for me it is amazing.
Freedom of movement is very good for business. Germany has a labour shortage as is, that would be way worse without it.
I personally went around the EU for events and holidays without needing travel documents. The Euro is extra helpful. Its basically like living in one country, except the languages are all messed up, but I get the same experience when going to Bavaria.
For myself personally, actually suprisingly little. Nordics has in large had open borders without the need for passports since the 1950’s if I remember correctly. We always did trips over to Sweden as a kid but we would have been able to do that for decades before regardless.
So for the average Norwegian it has had little impact in our daily lives. As we’re too far from the non-nordics to where can benefit a lot from the no border control aspect. But it always comes in handy if you’re on vacation or do a long road trip through Europe. I’ve done a longer road trip once and thats where it really shined for me. The ability to live and work in another EU country is also probably useful to some. I’m not entirely sure if Schengen gave us visa free access to any new countries but if so I imagine that has been nice aswell.
I don’t travel at all, so the impact on me personally is negligible. That said, the greater Copenhagen-Malmö area benefits alot from the schengen agreement.
I benefit a lot.
Work related, I travel every few month or so. Used to be a weekly thing.
Booze and soda is cheaper in Germany, so for larger parties I like to keep a small stash.
As South Korean, I wish Asia had a treaty like Schengen like Europe. However, the level of development, the gap between the rich and the poor, and the political system of Asian countries are vastly different, so it is unlikely that this will be realized forever. Even speaking of my country, South Korea, we are effectively an island nation because we are in political opposition to China, NK, and Russia.
Not super much going to neighbouring countries considering the Nordic Passport union from 1952 still in force and it being more lenient than Schengen. I rarely go outside the nordics and rarely is it to other parts of the EU/Schengen so… Considering going down to Denmark this summer for some cheap(er) alcohol. Would be cool to visit Oslo too, havent done it yet so I think I might just do it nothing is cheaper there tho
Me personally not a lot as the UK is outside Schengen. For example when I take the train from London to Brussels it goes via Lille in France and the journey while it is in Europe it is treated like a domestic train trip.
What people here probably don’t know is the one of the biggest hidden “secrets”, is the data sharing part of Schengen. For example the recognise of travel and identity documents and in usage of crime fighting. This includes access to public databases in other member states such as vehicle identification systems and criminal systems e.g. Police National Computer.
Lets just say, you can run, but you cannot hide!
I live like an hour away from 2 different borders, so not close enough to go there for shopping, bit for day trips or visiting my husband’s family who live in a neighboring country. They live near a border though and they usually cross it for gas and cigarettes etc.
I think a lot of people who have never been here don’t really get how much life has adapted to open borders. Not just in regards to shopping, but also living on one country and working in another. Or having relationships across the border. Moving to another country is also very easy. We even have towns that can only be reached through another country. And of course we also rely a lot on imports from and exports to other countries. And the borders are so open you could even cross them and miss it, because there might just be a sign on the side of the road. So that means fully closing down the borders like other countries have, just wasn’t an option during COVID. I got quite sick of big countries with only one neighbor or on an island, telling us to just close the borders. They did it too so it can’t be that hard.
I’m old enough to remember the time before Shengen and it makes a huge difference. I remember that crossing the border to Germany was always stressful because you never knew how long it would take. On some days the German customs officers decided to search every single car (for drugs? or to just be “gründlich” cunts) and then you could be stuck there in the burning sun for hours.
I remember the first time I went to Italy, and how some vendors tried to short change you, exploiting the foreigner’s unfamiliarity with the italian lira.
When traveling to Italy we had to have at least some currency of each country we travelled trough. So we had Dutch guilders, Deutschmarks, Swiss francs and Italian lira. I guess we would still need the Swiss francs today.
My dad had a great story about how somewhere in the 1960’s he attended a business meeting near Breda. After the meeting he tried to drive home, but got lost in the dark forest south of Breda, and accidentally crossed the Belgian border. He was stopped by some Belgian “douaniers” and when he could not give a good explanation of why he was there they threw him in jail. In the morning his boss had to come over to get him out of there. All of that only because he got lost! You can’t even imagine that now.
I have made several spontaneous weekend-trips to the Netherlands and Denmark, and longer holidays in Italy. It’s just convenient. Back in school we also had class trips to France, Italy and UK. If the teachers had to prepare visas &co, I’m 100% sure we would’ve never done these trips. So it’s also great for children to visit new places, it was super exciting for us.
I had a Dutch girlfriend for a while just over the border. Since we didn’t live together, one of us crossed the border weekly.
Brit living in Latvia, not far from the Estonian border.
It’s great, it makes trade and travel trivial. My kids regularly take a train to a nearby Latvian/Estonian city for the indoor skatepark on the Estonian side, Estonians regularly pop over for shopping (alcohol and diy / home improvement materials) and when the snow gods permit, for skiiing.
We’ve driven across Europe and the only time we’ve stopped at a border is for a “comfort” break, the only time we’ve needed ID is at a campsite / hotel.
I cross borders between italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Slovenia, at least once a month. Small holidays, visiting relatives and friends.
A lot of people commute daily over the Öresund Bridge, as they live in southern Sweden (Typically Malmö), and work in Copenhagen.
The costs of living is lower in Sweden, and wages in Denmark are typically higher.
All the time. We’re planning to cross into France today to visit a pharmacy for more Actron (same formulation as Excedrin in the US and not available here in Switzerland) and some groceries. My son loves the cheap, packaged pastries I get in France for his breakfasts, and I like to load up on fish and things like canned prepared lentils and ratatouille, which are far better in France than here in CH. I also get my 1 kg of meat every time I go. French meat is cheaper and usually way more tender than Swiss meat.
We’re not benefiting since Europe doesn’t want us in Schengen.
But when traveling, it’s nice to get from country to country on a whim, or to take a plane almost as easy as you take a train.
I and my family are germans living in Belgium near the german and dutch borders (Dreiländereck). My husband‘s job is in Germany, as well as my son‘s daycare. So we cross borders daily and moving here made me appreciate Schengen even more. I really like living here, getting to know the small cultural differences and learning french and dutch. Europe! ❤️
Living very close to the Italian and German border, in Austria, I personally benefit a lot. Friends are from Italy, family from Germany, and on our weekend trips weve crossed borders without even noticing them…
But as someone already mentioned, the benefits from the Schengen agreement go far beyond individual mobility.
The town nearest to mine literally is in a different country, so I cross the border more frequently than going East.
This didn’t prevent the border to be blocked during the worst part of the pandemic, that’s a totally different thing. Also, if you take a flight within Schengen that won’t allow you to skip the security checks, same as for an intranational flight.
My town has been traditionally packed with Portuguese buying groceries and gas, but now prices have skyrocketed so half of the local economy goes down the drain.
I live close the border to Denmark and I totally feel that snacks reason. Them Danes really got that hot dog thing figured out.
Meanwhile, half the cans (beer or soft drinks) consumed in Denmark were bought south of the border because it is so much cheaper. Going to a border store feels like everybody’s wants to provide for a wedding. Sweets, beer, potato chips, beef jerky, you name it – they’ll buy that in bulk.
Denmark’s got some hefty taxes on anything unhealthy – we not so much.
Shoutouts to Annie’s Kiosk.
Not very much because I almost never get out of Spain, but I appreciate having the option. Though one of the countries I’m more interested in is Ireland, which is in the EU but not in Schengen.
Traveling to other European countries once every couple of months, so it’s very useful. Especially since my gf used to live in a different eu-country for a while.
I honestly believe that the Schengen agreement and the right to free movement within the EU are the most underappreciated rights Europeans have as a consequence of their membership to the EU/EEA.
I’m Spanish and my partner is Norwegian. We have moved around to study/work and we have lived in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Malta and the UK (before Brexit). It took no time at all to get settled, nothing extraordinary was required to rent a place or to get a job, just an ID was enough (not even a passport!). No questions about income, health insurance, education level, purpose for our visit were ever made at the border at all. You literally just go in and settle down if you want. At most, you have to register in the local civil office and with the national health system, but all of that can be done easy enough.
Now compare this with some friends of ours who have done mostly the same until now that they want to emigrate to the US. She is Portuguese and he is Danish. Both have gotten fairly nice jobs in Southern California, job offers were extended, the company has been very proactive and helpful by hiring an immigration lawyer to do the paperwork for them. She had to wait five months to get things sorted. It would have taken a lot longer given the Covid backlog there is in the paperwork for US work visas, but the immigration lawyer was overly persistent that there was an immediate business need for her to enter the US and start working, so that sped up things a bit. She still got questioned quite a bit when arriving to LAX about her visa, had to show all her documentation, her purpose for entering the country, etc. He on the other hand has been waiting for six months now and it seems that he might be turned down altogether because he has no University degree. If that’s the case, the job offer will have to be rescinded and who knows what they’ll need to do to be living together again. Getting married with a US resident is also a bureaucratic nightmare.
So yeah, be grateful for all our borderless travel and right to free movement.
Living in Alsace, crossing the german border is trivial. There even is a tram between Strasbourg and Kehl.
I buy cigarettes, hygiene products and some other stuff in Germany. Germans typically come in France to buy plastic water bottles.
During early covid there was once a control where the policeman asked me a question but I don’t speak german. Then the conversation was like this :
Policeman : Corona ?
Me : No
Policeman : Ok
It’s incredible. Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, is on a tri-state border point with Austria and Hungary. Many people just live in nearby Hungarian or Austrian towns, they literally built houses and their lives there, thanks to Schengen. Many hungarian and austrian towns are now a part of Bratislava’s aglomeration – even if they are in a different country.
I can literally get up, go fckin almost anywhere in Europe and nobody cares. I can go have a coffee in my favourite coffee spot in Hainburg (AT) whenever I want. I am bored? I will go shopping in Parndorf or Vienna. I am there in 40 minutes, the only things that changes is the language people speak.
That’s so beautiful. And as a post-communist country which had barbed wires and armed guards on borders before 1989, I am so thankful for this.
I AM LITERALLY FLYING TO ITALY IN 5 HOURS, and I only bring my ID card, Covid form and a plane ticket – and there will be no border check. The feeling of freedom is so incredible.
I can’t wait until Schengen expands to Croatia, but it’s not bad anyway – if you have a EU numberplate, they will just smile and wave you in
I live in the South of Spain, so beside the economic impact Schengen and the EU makes here, personally it only makes vaccation easier to plan.
I was also tired of tolerating drunk brits during the summer, I guess that would not be a problem anymore.
Schengen is awesome. I’ve jump into some Ryanair flights as if it were a bus only being controlled in security at the airport and traveling to so different cultures.
I’ve landed once in Bratislava to travel to the end destination Vienna with just a train or bus hop in 30 minutes. I’ve crossed borders with the car almost without noticing. Like taking a bus and crossing multiple countries without being woken up.
It really is one of the best achievement of Europe Reforms.
I built my life around it. I lived in 6 countries, I learnt 4 languages.
The benefits are hard to quantify, but I can not imagine my life without it.
I benefit from it a lot. Grew up on the border with Belgium (French side) and I was going at least once a week in Belgium. After that I lived in Portugal, now I live in Hungary. I travel a lot in Europe, and feel very European. When I hear French politicians complaining about Shengen and EU, and even talking about frexit, I just want to slap them in the face !
I don’t cross borders that much as I live in central Germany, but when I do (Usually for holidays) it’s very conveniant to just drive over the border without waiting at a checkpoint.
Not at all because *a certain country* has a hard-on for vetoing Romania joining the Schengen area.