The History of the Schengen Agreement and Convention

Abstract

International cooperation in police matters is certainly not new but cooperation among European Union member states has clearly experienced a qualitative leap since 1980. To understand its rapid development one must understand certain contextual elements as well as its development. We review the pre-Schengen history (the Trevi Groups), followed by the history of Schengen up until the new Amsterdam Treaties (from 1985 until the signature of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997), and then analyze what these new treaties mean for the evolution of Schengen (particularly the whole integration of the Schengen acquis into the treaties), and finally make a critical assessment.