Schengen Agreement Essay

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Schengen Agreement: Impact on citizens, countries, and industries BSBA Ondrej Milacek MBA 546 European Union Policy Paper: Schengen Agreement OMilacek@cityu.edu February 2, 2014 Current situation within European Union is highly influenced by Schengen Agreement or Schenge Convention. This type of policy is well known among citizens of member states and even among foreign applicants who try to enter into Schengen zone in order to conduct business, travel, work, or visit different countries. As a consequence of its implementation, Schengen Agreement positively affects free movement of labor and citizens within its internal borders, enhances tourism and economic growth, sets up common policies for foreign applicants, provides and boosts the cooperation among police of member states with a help of Schengen Information System SIS II, and finally advises changes to facilitate visa application process. The summary of Schengen Agreement One of the basic rights which European Union guarantees is the free movement of its citizens. The Schengen Convention brought this right even further. The first signatories to Schengen Agreement were signed in 1985 among Luxemburg, Belgium, Netherlands, France, and Germany. The main purpose of this agreement was to completely avoid internal borders among these countries and ensure free movement of persons within their borders. In 1990, the same countries signed Schengen Convention and it took effect in 1995 (Eurofond, 2013). The positive impact of Schengen area was so high that other member states of European Union signed this agreement as well. Currently, members of Schengen Area are countries of European Union except United Kingdom, Ireland, Croatia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and Romania. However, Norway, Switzerland, and Island, as non-member states of European Union are members of Schengen zone
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