schengen agreement

pepsicokeacola

when can we join this and what are the reasons why we havnt already?

sink

We can join any time but the Schengen Agreement is incompatible with the Common Travel Area with Britain. Joining it without Britain also joining would mean the reintroduction of border controls between north and south.

We do participate in certain aspects of schengen to do with police and judicial co-operation but we don't participate in border security and common immigration policies.

sceptre

We can join it whenever we want. The main reason we haven't joined it is that the UK haven't. If we joined and they didn't, you'd need a passport to travel between Ireland and the UK, including across the border with Northern Ireland. Ireland got an optout in the Schengen proposals under the Treaty of Amsterdam, which applies as long as the common travel area between Ireland and the UK exists. See here for a nice summary.

pepsicokeacola

the brits :rolleyes:

sceptre

pepsicokeacola wrote: »

the brits :rolleyes:

That would be "a different sovereign state that we are more concerned about having unimpeded travel with than with the rest of Europe".

We've always had the option to drop the common travel agreement, we've just always decided we want to keep it. Don't blame them for our decision.

pepsicokeacola

but that would mean boarder control between the north and south of this country. thats crazy