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In this episode of General Knowledge I talk about how many European Union countries like Germany, France, The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria are implementing controls and checkpoints within their internal borders. Suspending the Schengen and EU Ideal of a free movement of people within the continent. And understanding why this might mean a long-term change for Europe. Are border checks the opposite of the European ideal? Or are migration controls essential to maintain the possibility of a European project? 'Hot zones' like Calais, Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean pose interesting questions on this topic.
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0:00
The European Union is starting to bring back border controls. While external borders of European
0:06
countries have continued to be monitored and even closed in some instances, the internal borders for
0:12
a few years now have been completely open to the free movement of people and goods. However, over
0:18
the past several months, a number of European nations like Germany, France and Austria have
0:24
started rolling back this openness and temporarily reintroducing controls at their borders despite
0:31
belonging to the Schengen area. In case you don't know, the Schengen area was developed in the 1980s
0:37
and is a group of European countries that have removed border controls between them
0:41
allowing people to move freely between them as if in a single country. This arrangement includes
0:47
most EU countries and a few non-EU members promoting ease of travel, trade and cooperation
0:54
across Europe. But now it looks like all of it may be ending, at least temporarily
0:59
The main reasons are heightened security concerns to avoid a rise in criminality and also a
1:05
better control of migration processes. And while Schengen does fully advocate for these entirely open borders, it does allow
1:14
a temporary suspension of that openness. in cases of public safety threats, enabling countries to address current challenges while
1:21
maintaining free movement principles within the EU. So in this video I'm going to try and understand which borders are being controlled and checked
1:29
again and why. Guys, we have just reached 150 members on Patreon
1:45
I'm really happy it's continuing to grow. If you want to access exclusive content and support the channel directly, make sure to join us there as well
1:52
Now, we're going to do three things to understand the situation a little better
1:57
First, we're going to learn which borders are being controlled. Then we're going to learn why that is happening, what's motivating the open border closing and checks
2:05
And third, we are going to learn how that checking is effectively going to take place
2:10
According to the European correspondent, the number of borders within the Schengen area
2:14
that are now being controlled outnumber the ones that are completely open
2:19
And despite the fact that a lot of these controls are being introduced as temporary measures
2:24
the reasons behind those temporary measures make us believe that maybe they're going
2:27
to last a little longer than expected and one could argue that it might be the end of
2:33
a free movement of people within the European Union. According to the map presented here, which shows us the countries belonging to the Schengen
2:40
area in blue, there are a number of them which have implemented border controls
2:45
Those borders that are now being checked are the ones in red, while the ones in blue remain
2:49
open for circulation without any type of check-in. France has implemented controls in all of its borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany
2:57
Switzerland Italy Andorra and Spain The Netherlands have implemented a full land border control with both of its neighbors Germany and Belgium which makes Belgium surrounded by border countries only Luxembourg remains fully open to them
3:11
And Germany seems to be controlling all borders too, with Denmark, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Switzerland and France
3:18
Austria and Switzerland remain open to each other, but are also controlling anyone else that comes in
3:24
while Slovenia has a full check on all land borders like the Netherlands did
3:28
Italy is also controlling the influx of people through its northern borders
3:32
It wouldn't need to though since all its neighbors are doing the same Well I guess actually the neighbors are controlling who comes into the country
3:39
And not necessarily who comes out so then they do need to Hungary is controlling only its border with Romania
3:45
Leaving the ones with Slovakia and Croatia open And Bulgaria is doing the same
3:50
Controlling the border with Romania and Greece plus with Turkey But that one isn't in Schengen
3:55
In Scandinavia the story is the same Norway is introducing controls not only on land borders but also sea and air and Sweden too
4:04
Denmark is doing the same. The main worry here for people that are against this is that this won't be temporary
4:10
It'll become a permanent measure and border checks will become more and more common
4:15
bringing Europe back to the slow lines of going from one country to the other
4:19
and implementing a lot of obstacles to free trade between member countries
4:24
And one quote even says that it's more than just a hassle
4:28
Over time, these physical barriers could well create a psychological divide between Europeans
4:33
slowly eroding the shared unity that makes Europe feel one. However, many borders still remain open
4:41
Portugal and Spain, for instance. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania still have completely free movement between them
4:48
as well as Czechia, Slovakia and Poland. However, they seem to be a minority within the Schengen area
4:53
And so, now that we understand which borders are being controlled, let's try to find out exactly what that is. Let's start with Germany. Germany is imposing
5:03
controls with all nine neighboring countries. And while these are initially supposed to only
5:07
last for about six months, Germany has a history of going past the predicted timeline. For instance
5:13
the 2015 agreement with Austria to close their borders is still working today. And over the past
5:18
year, Germany has implemented more and more checks using reasons like the Paris Olympics
5:23
which were going to bring in a lot of people to visit France and thus would justify checking the border with them
5:29
When it comes to the borders with Czechia and Poland, the excuse or the reason seems to be a rise in irregular migration
5:36
German authorities want to curb those unauthorized crossings and dismantle these supposed networks that are helping bring people in
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This decision reflects growing concerns over national security and the public's growing anxiety about migration flows and border security
5:50
In the northern border with Denmark, the Czechs go both ways, with Denmark now doing the same
5:56
And Austria has done something similar. They focused on managing migration routes through the Balkan corridor, which has seen increasing pressure
6:04
The Austrian government seeks to monitor and control these migration flows and reduce the strain on asylum seekers and basic services So while a lot of people are arguing that these types of
6:15
measures might make it harder for people to seek asylum, Austria says no, not really. It's actually
6:20
going to make it easier to allocate the right resources for the people that actually are
6:25
seeking asylum. Which side you believe in is up to you. Austria was one of the loudest voices
6:30
opposing the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen. In fact, one could argue they are
6:35
the reason they're only members of the air travel element of open borders, so their border control
6:41
desire in general might be connected to that too. And interestingly, both Romania and Bulgaria have
6:46
also implemented some type of border control after joining the Schengen air travel area
6:51
Romania seems to be doing these checks precisely to prove that they can control who comes in and
6:57
out of their country so that other countries will maybe allow them to fully integrate Schengen by
7:02
land as well. And the case of Bulgaria seems to be very similar. They've stepped up border controls
7:07
to address migration flows, especially at border points shared with neighboring countries outside
7:12
the Schengen area, namely Turkey from which many people come through. And then we move on to France
7:18
which is perhaps the biggest example of border controls in Europe right now because they're
7:22
checking every single one of their borders. Recently introducing controls with multiple
7:28
neighboring countries due to elevated security risks, including threats of terrorism and the
7:33
presence of criminal networks involved in smuggling. France's controls aim to prevent
7:38
radicalized individuals from entering the country amidst high migration flows. And they're doing
7:43
this on all of the borders, air, land, and sea. From the 1st of November 2024 until the end of
7:50
April of 2025 if this isn't prolonged, which everything indicates it might be. The measure has
7:56
been very heavily criticized by migration experts who argue that it puts the right to seek asylum
8:02
at risk and also say that these border checks, the way that they're being made, are more symbolic
8:07
than actually effective in preventing the issues that they're trying to resolve. And something that
8:11
is maybe evidence of that is the way in which these checks are actually being made. For instance
8:16
the Dutch government has said that these checks are being conducted on travelers arriving from
8:20
Germany and Belgium. But they're only spot checks. It's like every other car gets searched depending
8:26
on a random order. It's not every single person that's coming into the country that's being
8:30
stopped and checked for their documents and legal status. And sure, one can argue that some checks
8:36
are better than none, but still. It's not a full solution to the problem that they're wanting to
8:41
solve. However, I guess that if you have spot checks on every single border, then eventually
8:45
you're going to catch most irregular cases. And finally we arrive at the Scandinavian examples
8:51
which are all doing very similar things. All of them have extended border checks due to a heightened
8:57
risk of crime and terrorism with increased focus on preventing the movement of potential violent
9:03
actors into the country and to prevent illegal migration. Sweden for instance is doing this on
9:08
all of its borders with Denmark Finland and Norway Finland actually seems to be an exception It also not a Scandinavian country it just Nordic but it doesn seem to be checking any of its EU borders only implementing
9:20
very strict measures on the border that it shares with Russia because a lot of people were coming in
9:26
through there. And finally, Norway seems to be doing the same as Sweden, implementing sea, land
9:31
and air border controls. And their reason is that there is a heightened risk for attacks in the
9:36
country because of their local communities that are connected to other countries in the Middle
9:41
East, where the situation, as we all know, is very difficult. So to sum up, all of these countries
9:47
seem to be implementing border checks for the same reason, to prevent illegal migration and
9:51
potential criminal or terrorist threats. The way those border checks are being conducted are just
9:57
spot checks. It's not a full closed border in which everybody stops, shows their documents
10:02
and then moves on after them being checked. It's just some people that are randomly being selected
10:07
For the people that are randomly selected, what happens is that they are stopped by a border guard
10:12
they request ID documents and perform detailed checks, checking if they are a national of a
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Schengen nation or if they're a foreigner if they're within the six-month period in which they
10:21
are allowed to freely travel in the area. Oh, and also I guess they check if you're not a wanted
10:25
criminal. So that is why European countries, at least some of them, are reintroducing border
10:31
controls. Potentially putting at risk the EU concept of a free movement of people within
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the continent. What do you think of this? Is it a good idea? Do you think it's going
10:40
to work? And should it be implemented in the long run? Or is it sacrificing the core value
10:45
of European free movement in exchange for a potential solution to part of a problem
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Let me know in the comments. Again, thank you so much to my patrons for supporting me directly
10:55
over on Patreon. If you want to join, make sure to click the link in the description
10:59
and either way thank you to all of you for watching this video you can subscribe if you
11:03
want to catch future ones and i will see you next time for more general knowledge
11:08
there's an alarm ringing outside which you may or you may or may not have heard throughout the
11:24
video i'm gonna try to edit out the frequency but it's very annoying it's like
11:29
this may happen and I just don't notice throughout the day but it seems like every
11:33
time that I'm recording something is happening right anyway my girlfriend got her full movement cup collection back from Norway she has a lot of them
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and so I'm gonna have like a new one every single video because there's literally so many of them
11:52
today we have this one it's a guy that's playing a music box while being chased by a
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girl and then on this side he is fishing so they're very cool
12:05
is he fishing on a border that is being controlled by police
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I don't know thank you
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