Sunday 1 November 2009

New borders in the Union?

As an EU citizen you tend to forget that borders still exist, and usually you only realise this when you leave the Union.

But in his latest post, Jon Worth is rightfully complaining about the following incident:
"On the Amsterdam-München CityNightLine service last weekend Netherlands Police boarded the train at Venlo and shone a flashlight in everyone’s faces at the border."
And since I had similar experiences in the night train from Paris to Barcelona and in a normal train from the Netherlands to Germany, I also ask myself whether the member states are trying to establishing new borders within the Union, and in particular within the Schengen area?

If they are doing this, I'd expect the EU institutions to intervene - especially since border controls re-establish the impression that borders are not disappearing, and this would definitely go against the goals and ideals of the Union.

2 comments:

Dick Nieuwenhuis said...

and I can add the Belgian-French borders on the highways were you have to go through some sort of a snake at 10,km/hr and uniformed man (what are they?) look at you. Quite different from Belgian-Dutch borders, just a plate to tell you you are in another countrt!

kevin said...

I've been on a buses searched by airport police many times. You should consult the relevant police departments and ask them why they do it.

Perhaps they are looking for someone before they leave their national jurisdiction. It would save time & money if they didn't need to extradite.