EASTERN EUROPE

Borders of Eastern Europe

Borders of Eastern Europe

The Europe Union has guaranteed its nationals the right to travel freely anywhere in Europe. It was in this context that the implementation and expansion of the Schengen agreement took place. The EU has always worked to provide its nationals the opportunity to travel to any European country, and live and work there. The Schengen agreement therefore was focused on enhancing this cooperation between the member states by providing their national with these liberties without having had to undergo border checks. The Schengen agreement achieved this purpose by providing free movement to more than 400 million citizens of Europe, along with the many third country nationals who are legally present in the Schengen area as businessmen, tourist, students etc. The agreement not only helps in the free travel of people, but also helps in the transport of goods and other commodities between the member states (www.udsc.gov.pl).

This landmark agreement was signed on June 14th, 1985, and initially comprised of five member states. However, the agreement was open to other member states of the European Union, and this resulted in its subsequent expansion over the next two and a half decades. The significance of the agreement lies in the fact that apart from allowing the privileges to its nationals, it also extends it to citizens of third countries who are legally present in the Schengen area or have national residence permit of any Schengen nation (ZAIOTTI, 2011, PP 23-24).

There are three types of uniform visas that are issued by Schengen states. These types of visas have come a long way in defining how international borders are patrolled and monitored. The scenario of international border control and status was significantly changed in 2007 after Poland along with eight other countries that included Eastern Europe states joined the Schengen agreement.

These are the following three types of visas.

Transit visa (A) - it allows citizens to enter the international airport of any Schengen country, but he or she may not leave the airport transit zone.

transit visa (B) - it is valid for travel across the Schengen area for a pertain within five days

Short-stay visa (C) - issued fiord a ninety-day period for every is months period after the first entry (ZAIOTTI, 2011, PP 23-24).

This means that travel restrictions related to international borders have dramatically declined with international birders becoming moiré and more porous for nationals of Schengen countries. / the joining of the Schengen agreement by eastern Europe countries also mean that travel across their borders has significantly become more and more transparent and the concept of international boarder having gone a massive change as these entries not exhibit the look of a single nation.

New nature of borders

The conditions that have been laid down for joining the Schengen agreement further impose the new conditions with which the international borders would be viewed with. The joining has been more of a challenge for the eastern half of Europe as it needed to implement more and more measures to effectively become ...