FIVE junior politicians, chuckling away on a pleasure boat. There is only one known photo of the day, in 1985, when Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany and the Netherlands agreed to end border controls between their countries. It was a low-key start for what was to become one of the European Union’s signature achievements. The Schengen accord, named after the Luxembourgish village nestled along the river on which it was signed, is the world’s only large passport-free zone. It now covers 26 countries, including four non-EU members.
The village itself, just yards from borders with France and Germany, took a while to cotton on to the potential that history had given it, but now offers tourists a museum, sculptures made from Luxembourgish steel and two slabs of the Berlin Wall. The most emotional reactions come from visitors outside the zone, says Martina Kneip, the museum’s director. In the 2000s eastern Europeans made pilgrimages to the village whose name had become synonymous with the freedom...Continue reading
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