NYT Opinion Piece on Europe’s Internal Borders

Isaac Stanley-Becker, a reporter from the The Washington Post, has published an opinion piece in today’s New York Times, “Europe Wasn’t Supposed to Be Like This.” The full article is available here, and below is a highlights:

“Borders are closing in Europe, for reasons ranging from “ongoing crises in Eastern Europe and the Middle East” to “increasing migratory pressures and the risk of terrorist infiltration.” France cites “threats to public policy, public order.” Germany names “the global security situation.” Austria and the Netherlands point to “irregular migration,” and Italy to the influx “along the Mediterranean route and the Balkan route.”

It wasn’t meant to be this way. European integration promised the abolition of borders, “an ever closer union” allowing the free movement of people, goods and capital in a single market. That promise was embodied in the Schengen zone, an area of open borders formed in the twilight of the Cold War — by a treaty among France, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands — and now encompassing 29 European countries. But the fear of immigrants freely traversing Europe made Schengen a fragile project from the outset.”

The Opinion essay draws on Dr. Stanley-Becker’s forthcoming book “Europe Without Borders: A History.”

IE