In an attempt to
unify Europe and to promote
free trade and easier
travel throughout the region, the governments of most of the major countries in
Europe signed a document on
26 March, 1995 to create the
Schengen States. The most important impact this had is that one
visa (or related
travel document) is now required to enter and pass freely between the Schengen states and there is increasingly less
rigourous border control on their common borders.
The Schengen countries are:
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Conspicious by their absence are: United Kingdom, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
The name is derived from the Luxembourg village of Schengen on the Moselle, bordering both France and Germany, where the agreement was signed.