Schengen, the EU’s passport-free travel area, covers 26 countries. Read on to learn which countries are members and who is likely to join next.
Free movement – the right to live, study, work and retire anywhere in the EU – is possibly the most tangible achievement of European integration. With the establishment of the Schengen area in 1995, checks were abolished at the EU’s internal borders.
Today, the Schengen area encompasses most EU states, except for Ireland and the UK, which maintain opt-outs and operate their own common travel area, as well as Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania, which are obliged to join Schengen.
Four non-EU countries – Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein – have also joined the Schengen area.
source: europarl.europa.eu
