SCHENGEN (2)

Norway is not part of the E.U., but is a party to the series of Schengen Agreements that allow passport-free travel between the participating countries, which include Denmark and Sweden. The U.K. is one of the five (out of 27) E.U. Member States, that has not signed up to Schengen.

I have just been on holiday in Norway with a busload of Danes, travelling via Sweden. As a Brit, not covered by Schengen, I should not have travelled without my passport, and could in theory have been checked (and potentially expelled) from either Sweden or Norway, if this terrible fact had been discovered. In practice, of course, nobody checked whether I had it with me or not; and if they had, I suspect that a simple conversation and explanation that I was a permanent resident in Denmark would have sufficed.

The main justification for the U.K.'s not signing up to Schengen is - like with many other things - that weasel-like catch-all "security". My little trip shows how ridiculous the justification is. You don't catch potential terrorists by checking the passports of tourists in buses, it requires intelligence, patience, surveillance and (not least) a lot of luck. The U.K. will get there in the end of course; but like much of its attitude to the E.U., it will be grudging and very, very late.

Walter Blotscher