The Schengen Agreement And The Eu: The Relationship Between Integration And Differentiation

Since its inception in 1985, the Schengen Agreement has witnessed an increase of member states from 5 to 25. The Agreement was initially created to facilitate the free movements of people, goods, capital and services within the Schengen zone through removal of border controls among participating countries. Meanwhile, the boundary of each member state is extended to the border lines of other members. In particular, after the Agreement was incorporated in the European Union (EU) legal framework in 1997, all applicants hoping to join the EU must comply with the Agreement. Along with the EU expansion to Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Baltic region, the Schengen zone is also enlarged to cover new territories.A study of the evolution of the Schengen Agreement tells us that it has been closely connected to European integration ever since its inception, and has always been developing toward part of the EU framework. The enforcement of the Agreement was not as smooth and successful as expected, full of ups and downs. However, it is the differentiated system envisaged by the Agreement that fully takes into account of varied interests of the member states, enables the Agreement to proliferate on the European continent and sets a good role model for driving European integration in other fields.Under the Schengen Agreement, a differentiated system is designed to accommodate different statuses of member states. For example, the United Kingdom and Ireland, two EU member states, enjoy a quasi-member status that allows them to participate in the Schengen provisions partially and reserve their rights to opt in for other measures. Norway and Iceland, two non-EU countries, enjoy the same rights and obligations as other Schengen states, except for the right to vote. New applicants must meet all requirements of the Agreement to become member states and are subject to compliance checks. These are called new member status.Based on the evolution of the Schengen Agreement and its subsumption into the EU framework, we may conclude that the differentiated system of the Agreement originates from European integration. This paper attempts to study the relationship between integration and differentiation, analyze the reasons, impacts and future trend of differentiation, and establish a positive correlation between integration and differentiation in the area of common visa policy. It also argues that the common visa policy, as club goods, well demonstrates the huge driving effect of the differentiated integration model in the cause of European integration.