Schengen Zone reaches Serbian border

I really dislike this. Eventually there will be no individual countries. It will just be a land mass of Europeans, how sad. I loved travelling through different cultures and peoples when I was younger - those days may soon be gone. I am saddened. And this is all because corporations want to create one giant economic market force - to make more money. It always comes down to money, doesn't it? We are losing our individuality for the sake of profit, disgusting!

So does this mean that people who wish to do great bodily harm to the masses, such as terrorists, will have an easier time entering these countries? What about increasing illegal immigration?

Why have the UK and Ireland not joined the Schengen Accord? I hesitate to comment on this issue as I do not know UK and Ireland's reason since this is an EU agreement.

you know what that means.....

Hungary will be watching those borders very closely.

Ireland and the UK are islands, so it is more difficult to scrap borders. Also, the Schengen information system is not accessable yet to Irish/UK authorities. People should note that Ireland and the UK were the only countries that allowed citizens of the 10 countries that joined the EU together to travel/work without restriction. Ireland alone is the only EU country that did not impose conditions and restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian citizens when they joined the EU. I hope that the EU will quickly expand to include all Balkan states, including Serbia, so that we can see the end of these ridiculous borders and visa bureaucracy that hinders travel and freedom of movement throughout South East Europe.

Thank you Liam. And, Peterpaul, I agree; however, EU seems to want to be a copy of the US and apparently needs that type of "unification" since the countries involved have such a large immigrant majority that, in some cases, they,in total, are greater than the indigent people. Perhaps with an economic "union" of sorts, the various nations with weaker economies have a better chance to prosper and keep their own people in their own countries. The negative aspect with such diversity is that a country no longer has a "French" or "Italian" or "Austrian" , etc. unique culture, but a mixture with others, thereby losing its uniqueness. Can anyone truly say what is the USA culture - most of their customs and traditions come from other countries. These are, in turn, changed to reflect the various other cultures therein. This is confusing, but I think you know what I mean. It would be great if a union could be created without a country eventually losing its unique customs to accomodate new immigrants.

peterpaul,

The different cultures and people will still remain. What get eliminated is the unnatural, artificial partition of historic local areas, towns or even families.
In Hungary alone there were hundreds of such examples. Between Satoraljaujhely and Slovenske Nove Mesto a street cut in half...several similar cases on the Hungarian -Slovak border like Esztergom - Parkany, Komarom - Komarno.
On the Austrian - Hungarian border Szentpeterfa as just one example: the farmers were cut off from their vineyards just on the other site of the border. In innumerable cases families were separated.
There were times earlier when a son or daughter was not permitted to go to the funeral of a parent just few kilometers away on the other side. Did you find it romantic? Sure when you were sending your postcards from the different capitals you didn't know about the situation in the border areas. Apparently you also enjoyed the repeated money exchange (with artificial exchange rates) in every few days.
And about the corporations making money? Do you think they are set up as humanitarian non-profit organizations? You sound a little bit like those young "professional" troublemakers (sometime children of rich parents} who like to manifest against globalization at big international meetings like the G8.
Do you deplore the disparition of some small local "Mom and Pop" stores, where the same items cost 30-50% more than in a supermarket? Ask some poor (and not so poor) people for the reason why they shop in supermarket.
What some EU-members need is more competition. Compared to the US almost everything is more expensive in the EU. You would say yes because of the weak dollar. No, that would mostly be the case even with a 1 to 1 parity.

Anyone alive at b92 or you have meybe left for Shcengen countries :-)

Roger7,

I just read an interesting article about the borderless area of Goerliz (German-Polish-Czech triangle) on BBC. Please read it. I also read that at the Hungarian-Serbian border already in the first hours of the new system 4 "wanted" criminals got caught. The Schengen system (with a huge database in Strasbourg) seem to work very well.

peterpaul,

The different cultures and people will still remain. What get eliminated is the unnatural, artificial partition of historic local areas, towns or even families.
In Hungary alone there were hundreds of such examples. Between Satoraljaujhely and Slovenske Nove Mesto a street cut in half...several similar cases on the Hungarian -Slovak border like Esztergom - Parkany, Komarom - Komarno.
On the Austrian - Hungarian border Szentpeterfa as just one example: the farmers were cut off from their vineyards just on the other site of the border. In innumerable cases families were separated.
There were times earlier when a son or daughter was not permitted to go to the funeral of a parent just few kilometers away on the other side. Did you find it romantic? Sure when you were sending your postcards from the different capitals you didn't know about the situation in the border areas. Apparently you also enjoyed the repeated money exchange (with artificial exchange rates) in every few days.
And about the corporations making money? Do you think they are set up as humanitarian non-profit organizations? You sound a little bit like those young "professional" troublemakers (sometime children of rich parents} who like to manifest against globalization at big international meetings like the G8.
Do you deplore the disparition of some small local "Mom and Pop" stores, where the same items cost 30-50% more than in a supermarket? Ask some poor (and not so poor) people for the reason why they shop in supermarket.
What some EU-members need is more competition. Compared to the US almost everything is more expensive in the EU. You would say yes because of the weak dollar. No, that would mostly be the case even with a 1 to 1 parity.

Why have the UK and Ireland not joined the Schengen Accord? I hesitate to comment on this issue as I do not know UK and Ireland's reason since this is an EU agreement.

Anyone alive at b92 or you have meybe left for Shcengen countries :-)

you know what that means.....

Hungary will be watching those borders very closely.

Ireland and the UK are islands, so it is more difficult to scrap borders. Also, the Schengen information system is not accessable yet to Irish/UK authorities. People should note that Ireland and the UK were the only countries that allowed citizens of the 10 countries that joined the EU together to travel/work without restriction. Ireland alone is the only EU country that did not impose conditions and restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian citizens when they joined the EU. I hope that the EU will quickly expand to include all Balkan states, including Serbia, so that we can see the end of these ridiculous borders and visa bureaucracy that hinders travel and freedom of movement throughout South East Europe.

I really dislike this. Eventually there will be no individual countries. It will just be a land mass of Europeans, how sad. I loved travelling through different cultures and peoples when I was younger - those days may soon be gone. I am saddened. And this is all because corporations want to create one giant economic market force - to make more money. It always comes down to money, doesn't it? We are losing our individuality for the sake of profit, disgusting!

So does this mean that people who wish to do great bodily harm to the masses, such as terrorists, will have an easier time entering these countries? What about increasing illegal immigration?

Thank you Liam. And, Peterpaul, I agree; however, EU seems to want to be a copy of the US and apparently needs that type of "unification" since the countries involved have such a large immigrant majority that, in some cases, they,in total, are greater than the indigent people. Perhaps with an economic "union" of sorts, the various nations with weaker economies have a better chance to prosper and keep their own people in their own countries. The negative aspect with such diversity is that a country no longer has a "French" or "Italian" or "Austrian" , etc. unique culture, but a mixture with others, thereby losing its uniqueness. Can anyone truly say what is the USA culture - most of their customs and traditions come from other countries. These are, in turn, changed to reflect the various other cultures therein. This is confusing, but I think you know what I mean. It would be great if a union could be created without a country eventually losing its unique customs to accomodate new immigrants.

Roger7,

I just read an interesting article about the borderless area of Goerliz (German-Polish-Czech triangle) on BBC. Please read it. I also read that at the Hungarian-Serbian border already in the first hours of the new system 4 "wanted" criminals got caught. The Schengen system (with a huge database in Strasbourg) seem to work very well.