Schengen bittersweet anniversary: EU integration and the persistence of internal border controls

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Schengen Agreement, a landmark in European integration. This year has also seen the long-awaited full inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria, extending Schengen to 29 members. However, celebrations will be clouded by an undeniable reality: the European Union is a bordered space. Since the ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015, borders have been reintroduced more than 400 times, and some states have kept them unrelentingly. The literature has paid attention to the reintroduction of internal borders as a reaction to crises, but less so to them as a persistent anomaly. This is quite surprising given the relevance the EU confers to Schengen as a distinctive trait of its integration process. Through the reflections offered by three recent and timely books, this article makes the argument that the ‘substance’ of integration should be more visibly at the center of any reading of Member States’ reintroduction of internal borders.