Schengen borders control
The decision to abolish internal border controls reflected a collective desire to overcome the divisions of the Cold War and to foster unity and peace” – so says the European Union, in the 40th year since the Schengen area was born.
The plan for Europe without frontiers was first revealed in 1985 aboard a vessel symbolically floating in the Moselle river beside the Luxembourg village of Schengen – just where the Grand Duchy meets both France and Germany.
Symbolically, the 2009 Nato summit was held jointly by Strasbourg in France and Kehl in Germany. They are linked by a series of bridges across the Rhine, and an international tram runs between the two communities.
During the Nato event, the French customs post was burned down by anarchists. No one cared much at the time, thinking it was obstacle