40 Years of Schengen: People, Borders, Politics

The European Migration Network Luxembourg (EMN Luxembourg) and the UniGR-Center for Border Studies invite stakeholders, practitioners, researchers and citizens to celebrate the round anniversary of the Schengen Agreement but also to reflect on it critically in light of current developments. By increasingly introducing temporary controls at the EU's internal borders, have the Schengen countries been calling into question the European achievement of open borders? Is the European Schengen spirit about to be replaced by a national border spirit? And what would this mean for the future of Europe, its citizens, and border regions? 

Guests and participants will discuss these and other questions with respect to the EU's internal and external borders. A focus will be laid on the free movement of people in border regions, particularly in the Greater Region, and its impact on socio-economic and socio-cultural integration processes. Furthermore, a debate on whether the margins of the Schengen Area, i.e. the EU's external borders, can be viewed as a partially insurmountable regulating apparatus for those seeking protection and asylum, will take place. Finally, the interrelationship between the EU's external and internal borders and how it relates to the functioning of the Schengen Area will be discussed. 

This conference is organized by the EMN Luxembourg and the UniGR-Center for Border Studies. Working languages are English and French with translation.