The Schengen area in the context of the free movement of persons in the European Union

• Author: Ioana-Nely Militaru
• Pages: 94-101

The Schengen area in the context of the free movement of persons in

the European Union

Associate professor Ioana-Nely MILITARU

1

Abstract

The free movement of persons in the European Union is certainly one of the most

concrete achievements of the European integration process. The establishment of the

Schengen area in 1995 led to the abolition of controls at the internal borders of the Eu-

ropean Union. Currently, the Schengen area comprises most of the EU states except Ire-

land and the United Kingdom, which have opted to stay outside, as well as Bulgaria,

Croatia, Cyprus and Romania, which are bound to join Schengen. However, EU citizens

benefit from free movement when traveling within the EU, whether or not the country is

part of the Schengen area. If they enter the territory of an EU Member State that is n ot

part of the Schengen area, EU citizens are in principle subject to a minimum identity

check based on travel documents, respectively passports or identity cards).

Keywords: free movement of persons, European Union, Schengen area, borders,

European Parliament, Council, regulation.

JEL Classification: K33

1. Introductory considerations

The legal basis of "Schenghen Area" is:

- the Schengen Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at the com-

mon borders of 14 June 1985;

- Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement on the gradual abo-

lition of checks at their common borders, signed on 19 June 1990 and which en-

tered into force on 26 March 1995.

The free movement of persons in the EU is based on the following pro-

visions: Art. 3 par. (2) TEU, Art. 21 TFEU (Titles IV and V, Part III of the TFEU),

Art. 45 The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.

The legal basis for this freedom begins with one of the Union's objec-

tives

2

, which in its content is a guarantee given to its citizens in the area of free-

dom, security and justice without internal frontiers, in conjunction with appropri-

ate measures on external border control, with the right to asylum , immigration,

1

Ioana-Nely Militaru – Department of Law, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania,

ioananelimilitaru@yahoo.com.

2

See Dragoş Marian Rădulescu, European Union, From Traditions to Fundamental Rights.

Asserting the fundamental human right to a healthy environment, Pro Universitaria Publishing

House, Bucharest, 2012, p. 64 et seq.; Iulia Boghirnea, The General Theory of Law, Sitech

Publishing House, Craiova, 2013, pp. 28 et seq.; Stoica Camelia Florentina, European Union Law,

Fundamental Freedoms, University Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009, pp. 24 et seq.