The Community: Welcome to Schengenland

The dream of a border-free Europe took a step toward reality last week. Aboard a cruiser sailing down the Moselle River past the village of Schengen, representatives of France, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed an agreement to abolish border checks for travelers and their luggage. The accord will go into effect in 1992. When it does, the internal frontiers shared by the five countries, including a newly unified Germany, will be partly dissolved, creating a 373,766-sq.-mi. passport-free territory informally dubbed Schengenland.

The agreement is regarded as an important preliminary to full integration of the twelve-member European Community, scheduled for Jan. 1, 1993. Within the new five-nation zone, passport controls for citizens will be lifted, police will share information, and extradition and political-asylum measures will be harmonized. But to combat a possible increase in illicit drug trafficking, terrorist activities and illegal immigration, controls on the external borders of Schengenland will be tightened.