essays Britain, Ireland and Schengen: Time for a smarter bargain on visas By Michael Emerson ★ Given Britain’s desire to maintain its own border controls, it will not join the EU’s passport-free ‘Schengen’ area in the foreseeable future. Ireland also has to stay out because it shares a common travel area with the UK. ★ But there is now mounting evidence that this situation hurts tourism and businesses in Britain and Ireland. Non-European travellers can move freely between Schengen countries with a single visa, and many skip the further hassle of getting visas to visit Britain or Ireland. Already the Schengen area has an agreement to facilitate group tourism from China, which is growing fast, and from which the UK and Ireland are excluded. ★ This problem could be overcome if Britain, Ireland and the Schengen countries agreed on ‘mutual recognition’ of the visas they issue, without the UK or Ireland having to scrap their border controls. For the present UK government, full accession to the Schengen area, a passport-free travel area covering most of Europe, is a red line that it will not cross. Ireland shares a common travel area and land border with the UK and is also bound by this decision. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the UK, along with Ireland, is suffering serious economic and reputational costs as a result of its separate visa and border management policies. Britain and Ireland already participate in parts of the Schengen system relating to police co-operation. This paper argues that a fuller co-operation agreement with Schengen could cut the costs of having separate visa regimes for the two non-members. The idea would be for Britain and Ireland to enter into mutual recognition agreements on visa policy with Schengen countries, without suppression of their port or airport border controls.
A case of simple economics for Britain and Ireland For many people, the cost and hassle of obtaining visas for business purposes or to go on holiday is a deterrent. One of the achievements of the EU internal market, with free movement of goods, services, capital and people, is that visitors from the rest of the world can view the Union as a single destination. Asian, Russian and other visa-required tourists and businessmen coming to ‘Europe’ will first of all wish to get a Schengen visa. With this one document, they have access to 25 countries, around 86 per cent of the EU’s population, and equivalent percentages of Europe’s main tourist attractions.
Centre for European Reform 14 Great College Street London SW1P 3RX UK
The UK, Ireland and Schengen area compared (2010)
Number of countries Population size, million GDP, S billion
UK & Ireland
Schengen countries
2
25
Schengen multiple of UK/Ireland 12.5
65.1
416.5
6.4
1.85
10.9
5.9
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