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Revised Version
The Schengen Agreement
In 1985 five of the then ten member states of the European Economic Community, namely Belgium, France , the Netherlands, West Germany and Luxembourg conceived the Schengen Agreement to permit the free movement of persons within a determined area referred to as the Schengen Area. Nowadays, the Schengen Agreement has 26 members with also non-European Union countries like Norway and Iceland having signed this treaty. Others, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland, are part of the European Union, but do not belong to the Schengen Area.
The UK prefers to remain independent as they perceive the natural frontiers of an island as already sufficient enough to prevent illegal immigration. Even though Ireland does not share this opinion, they prefer to uphold the Common Travel Agreement as joining the Schengen Area would result in the inconvenience of a closed border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. In short, the Schengen Area achieved its aim of enhancing mobility of people and goods and was eventually incorporated into European law with only Ireland, the UK, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus remaining opt-outs.
PS: Sorry for the creative depiction of the first paragraph, but as unrealistic it sounds - the electronic version somehow got lost....
Shoot, how do I link myself? :O
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