Schengen zone "still has a future"

Charles de Gaulle Airport (July 2015) Photo: Brownpau

Europe's Schengen Zone "still has a future", according to French officials, despite the emergency border controls introduced in the wake of the Paris attacks.

The Schengen agreement between 22 of the 28 EU member states means that there are no passport or border controls at their shared internal borders, effectively establishing a single country in terms of international travel, with a common visa policy. The measure has become crucial to property markets, as their recovery is partly fuelled by the appeal of Golden Visas. These grant non-EU investors residency in exchange for property purchases, which, thanks to the Schengen deal, means they are effectively given free travel within most of Europe.

The tragic attacks in the French capital earlier this month, though, saw France impose border controls to boost security in the face of further possible terrorist attacks.

All travellers, even European nationals, are now subject to inspection at external borders, following an extraordinary meeting in Brussels. France has now said it will maintain its own emergency measures "for as long as the terror threat requires", with drivers and passengers searched as checkpoints on major routes between France and Belgium, including cross-border trains.

The measures are in keeping with the Schengen code, which allows temporary, emergency border controls, but they arrive at a time when the Schengen Zone is already under pressure: the migrant crisis has left the continent struggling to deal with people moving between its borders, with Germany, Austria and Denmark all reviving former border controls.

Nonetheless, French Ambassador Béatrice le Fraper du Hellen tells The Sunday Times of Malta that the agreement "still has a future".

"It is a fundamental part of what we believe Europe should be," she commented. "The point is focusing on the external borders. We’re very strong on maintaining Schengen and will not yield to pressure; France is very opposed to walls within Europe."