So the Spain-Gibraltar border dispute rumbles on. Queues at the land border to enter Gibraltar persist, and suggestions abound that Spain may introduce a charge to cross from Gibraltar into Spain. Meanwhile Tory MEP for the South West & Gibraltar, Ashley Fox, has called on the European Commission to take […]
Tag: Schengen
FreeMovement.net – mapping breaches of Schengen
As any regular reader of this blog knows, non-Schengen compliant border controls (and my documentation of them) have been a regular topic in the last few months. I’ve been checked at St Jean de la Maurienne, Buchs, Puttgarden, Oldenburg and Padborg recently, and further in the past at Brenner and […]
A little Brussels-London security paranoia case study – this coming Friday
I have not taken Eurostar recently, but judging by comments posted on my previous blog posts about the service, it seems that the security paranoia that afflicts the route has not diminished. Anyway, for the first time in months, I am going to be on Eurostar on Friday this week, […]
A border control dressed up as a customs control, inside Schengen. Buchs, Switzerland, 1020, 14 March 2013
Switzerland is in the Schengen Area. But it is not part of the EU Customs Union. Therein is the newest excuse I’ve heard for a border control within the Schengen area. I was a passenger on Railjet 362, departing Feldkirch* (Austria) at 0948 this morning, and scheduled in Buchs (Swiss […]
A perfectly correct border control. No, sorry, identity control. Between Puttgarden and Oldenburg (Holst), 1105, Friday 1st March
The 0744 København H to Berlin train (although I’m getting off at Hamburg Hbf). Friday 1st March. Two policemen wait at the German border station Puttgarden, board the train at 1040, it departs at 1042, and the two of them reach my seat (at the opposite end of the 4 […]
Permissible ID checks in EU Member States – I need your help
As regular readers of this blog know, the problems within the Schengen Area have been giving me cause for concern over the last few months. I have been wondering what best to do in light of my experiences, and my current plan is to find a way to more systematically […]
Non-Schengen compliant border control at Puttgarden, 21st January 2013, 1244
Today I’m at least as angry at myself as a blogger (who was not adequately prepared) as I am about yet another breach of EU law and Schengen. My ICE train had just left the ferry, heading into Germany at Puttgarden at 1244, and was stationary at the station when […]
Non-Schengen (or non-Danish law?) compliant border control at Padborg, 16th January 2013, 0651
Back in spring 2011, when Denmark still had a centre right government supported in parliament by the populist Dansk Folkeparti, the country drew sharp criticism from the European Commission with a plan to reintroduce border controls. The centre right lost the election later in 2011, and the borders plan did not […]
OK, so Schengen is a myth. Systematic checks on the train leaving France are OK according to the Commission.
Back on 9th October I documented a non-Schengen compliant border control that took place on a train between St Jean de Maurienne and Modane – see the full details here. I put all that information into a full and official complaint to the European Commission, and today (about 2 weeks […]
Non-Schengen compliant border control between St Jean de Maurienne and Modane, 9th October 2012, 1240
Four French police boarded the front carriage of the 0749 Paris Gare de Lyon – Milano Garibaldi TGV at St Jean de Maurienne on 9th October. The train was running with a delay of around 55 minutes, hence departing from St Jean at around 1230. At 1240 the four police […]
Schengen: what can they ask, and what am I obliged to tell?
Bleary eyed and grumpy last week due to a delayed night train, I was nevertheless rather surprised when a Danish policeman demanded to see my passport abord the night train to København H at Padborg (border station from Germany). When I asked him why and how he was demanding this […]
Eurostar security absurdity, part II
All was going so well. Eurostar 9156 departed on time from St Pancras at 1904, and arrived at around 2057 (local time, as scheduled) at Calais Frethun. Then nothing. No departure. Silence. Then the announcement that “for service reasons” we were to wait 10 minutes at Calais. At 2108 a […]