Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. I'm Stephen Carol and
Speaker 1: this is Here's Why, where we take one news story
Speaker 1: and explain it in just a few minutes with our
Speaker 1: experts here at Bloomberg. It's a central part of the
Speaker 1: vision of the European Union being able to cross borders freely.
Speaker 1: Schengen is an example of what it is. You have
Speaker 1: seamless travels around the Shangen Area. The decision that we
Speaker 1: have now finally taken to welcome Romania into our common
Speaker 1: Schengen Area was long.
Speaker 2: Overdue and highly deserved.
Speaker 1: So the passengers welcome to Bulgaria, Welcome to Shengen. This
Speaker 1: is a really historic moment for Bulgaria. The Shanngen Area,
Speaker 1: named after a village in Luxembourg on the border with
Speaker 1: France and Germany, covers twenty five of the EU's twenty
Speaker 1: seven member states, along with four neighboring countries, including Switzerland
Speaker 1: and Norway. It's meant to mean that people can travel
Speaker 1: between countries and the zone without having to show their passport,
Speaker 1: but increased worries over migration and terrorism have seen some countries,
Speaker 1: including Germany and France, reintroduce border checks, so here's why
Speaker 1: the dream of a borderless Europe could be fading our
Speaker 1: Germany correspond to Oliver Krook joins me. Now for more, Oliver,
Speaker 1: a bit of context. First of all, how big a
Speaker 1: deal is the Shngen Agreement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Steven, I think this is an absolutely foundational idea
Speaker 2: for Europe and something that began really as a sort
Speaker 2: of economic alliance on coal and steel, and that has
Speaker 2: evolved through the decades to be something much much bigger
Speaker 2: and something that is developing more into a political block.
Speaker 2: And at the center of that is the freedom of
Speaker 2: movement of people. I mean, this is something that is
Speaker 2: not just also the EU. This is twenty nine countries
Speaker 2: across Europe and we're talking about an area that covers
Speaker 2: four hundred and fifty million people. There is nothing like
Speaker 2: that in the world. There are, of course countries that
Speaker 2: are bigger than that where people can move freely, but
Speaker 2: there is no agreement like that where you can move
Speaker 2: seamlessly without border checks, without customs, without anything between that
Speaker 2: many countries. And it requires a huge amount of trust
Speaker 2: because we obviously know how sensitive an issue immigration is
Speaker 2: and always has been really through human history. So it's
Speaker 2: a huge sort of achievement. It's continuing to expand. Croatia
Speaker 2: joined last year. And you know, if you live in
Speaker 2: the UK and or listening to this as I did,
Speaker 2: you will also have had the experience of living in
Speaker 2: a place with shangen and then without it. In the contrast,
Speaker 2: it's the kind of thing that you don't really necessarily
Speaker 2: think about until you don't have it anymore.
Speaker 1: So who's taking a hiatus then from shangen and why? So?
Speaker 2: Most recently and most dramatically, I think is Germany, which
Speaker 2: has now put on bird border checks on all nine
Speaker 2: of its land borders. Part of this is due to
Speaker 2: intense political pressures that there are within Germany, where you
Speaker 2: have the far right traditionally saying that they don't want
Speaker 2: any more immigrants and that wanted to cracking down, but
Speaker 2: you're hearing it also from the far left in Germany.
Speaker 2: It has also been put into focus by the fact
Speaker 2: that there have been a few sort of terror attacks.
Speaker 2: One was committed by a sort of asylum seek or
Speaker 2: who was rejected and not deported, and so this was
Speaker 2: obviously a very emotive issue here in Germany. So there's
Speaker 2: an extension to some of the border checks that already
Speaker 2: existed with say poland the Czech Republic, Switzerland, but it's
Speaker 2: also been in stated since the beginning, since twenty fifteen
Speaker 2: with Austria. So today they've expanded it to France and
Speaker 2: Mark into all of the land borders. They say that
Speaker 2: they've turned back thirty thousand people that shouldn't have been
Speaker 2: entering the country. They're trying to get a little bit
Speaker 2: of a boost from that. But from the Schultz government
Speaker 2: it was a significant step.
Speaker 1: Is this a new idea that we would see European
Speaker 1: country suspending the rules around free travel and bringing back
Speaker 1: border controls.
Speaker 2: So listen, you get it pretty regularly within Europe. It's
Speaker 2: always temporary measures, and we should say that the German
Speaker 2: ones are also technically temporary. There are only eight countries
Speaker 2: that are using it right now, and it's generally for
Speaker 2: a specific reason. Either there's been too many sort of
Speaker 2: illegal immigrants, or there's some concern over that terrorism threat.
Speaker 2: There's maybe a high profile event, say the Olympics in France.
Speaker 2: They did it for that, but also Norway has done
Speaker 2: it because they're concerned about their critical infrastructure after the
Speaker 2: war with Russia and if there could be any infiltration there,
Speaker 2: so they've imposed them. Of course, there are a great
Speaker 2: many around COVID. But also this puts into sort of
Speaker 2: focus for the Shengen Area also the broader Shang'en border
Speaker 2: and trying to put sort of restrictions there so that
Speaker 2: you don't get as many illegal immigrants there. And this
Speaker 2: is why, by the way, Turkey is such a key
Speaker 2: partner to the EU and to the Shengen Area.
Speaker 1: Do countries get any blowback from the EU when they
Speaker 1: take steps like this.
Speaker 2: Well, listen. Germany has got a lot of blowback overdoing this.
Speaker 2: It got reprimands from Donald Tusk, one of the bordering
Speaker 2: countries in Poland, which has exacerbated some frictions that were
Speaker 2: already there, basically saying that it's entirely unacceptable, calling for
Speaker 2: the sort of highest level of discussions over it. You've
Speaker 2: heard the same thing from Austria. But you've also got
Speaker 2: a lot of praise from some of the eurosceptics, from
Speaker 2: Geared Wilders over in the Netherlands saying this is great,
Speaker 2: we should do this in the Netherlands or bond saying
Speaker 2: welcome to the club. And it's very significant because it's
Speaker 2: a government like Schultz's who is of course a Social
Speaker 2: Democrat and who's all the party and their coalition are
Speaker 2: generally pro migration. For them to take this step really
Speaker 2: gives a lot of ammunition to some of the far
Speaker 2: right parties.
Speaker 1: So, as you've mentioned, currently, these border controls being reintroduced
Speaker 1: are temporary measures. What's the risks that these temporary controls
Speaker 1: become permanent?
Speaker 2: Well, this is the thing is that you can sort
Speaker 2: of continue to roll them over again and again, so
Speaker 2: they wouldn't really become really permanent per se that would
Speaker 2: obviously have a massive impact, but it's the fear of
Speaker 2: sort of effective permanence where you just keep rolling them
Speaker 2: out into sort of perpetuity. Like we mentioned earlier, there's
Speaker 2: been border checks between Austria and Germany since twenty fifteen,
Speaker 2: and the question is will it continue to roll it
Speaker 2: over again and again and again. Germany has done this
Speaker 2: for six months and there's a six month increments. But
Speaker 2: again this is a risk that I could go further.
Speaker 1: What's the big picture here, Alie, it's the Shagan area
Speaker 1: really in danger.
Speaker 2: So what I think is really interesting is that the
Speaker 2: issue of migration, I think is in some ways a
Speaker 2: much bigger conversation and it speaks to really a question
Speaker 2: at the heart of Europe, and Schengen is kind of
Speaker 2: a proxy, i think, for much a bigger philosophical question,
Speaker 2: which is what is Europe? And that is a question
Speaker 2: that has been asked since the beginning of the EU
Speaker 2: over decades. It's taken very many different forms, whether it's
Speaker 2: a focus on debt, the sovereign debt crisis that we
Speaker 2: had back in twenty ten, twenty eleven with Greece, now
Speaker 2: you have it sort of with immigration. And it comes
Speaker 2: at a time when within Europe you have a lot
Speaker 2: of euroskeptical parties that are closer to power than they've
Speaker 2: ever been in the past, whether it's in France, whether
Speaker 2: it's in Germany, within Italy as well, you have this
Speaker 2: sort of the far right there. What is interesting is
Speaker 2: many of these euroskeptical parties, though they are closer to power,
Speaker 2: tend to be somewhat less skeptical. Right le Pen no
Speaker 2: longer really talks about Frexit, even the IFDA in Germany,
Speaker 2: the far right are not really talking about aggressively campaigning
Speaker 2: on leaving the EU. They might do a referendum, but
Speaker 2: these are all questions that were much more active in
Speaker 2: the past. But I think as time goes on and
Speaker 2: Europe is confronted with blocks like China and the United States,
Speaker 2: they're going to have to make a choice of what
Speaker 2: Europe looks like going forward. And I think Drogy put
Speaker 2: it very well when he's kind of dealing with the
Speaker 2: sort of competitive this question in Europe. More broadly, he
Speaker 2: says Europe faces a choice between exit, paralysis or integration,
Speaker 2: and that is really the question that is before Europe today.
Speaker 1: Thanks to our Germany correspondent Oliver Krook. For more explanations
Speaker 1: like this from our team of twenty seven hundred journalists
Speaker 1: and analysts around the world, search for Quicktake on the
Speaker 1: Bloomberg website or Bloomberg Business app. I'm Stephen Carroll. Here's
Speaker 1: why I'll be back next week with more. Thanks for listening.