On 31 March 2024, Bulgaria and Romania become Schengen members: the Schengen rules will apply in both Member States including on issuing Schengen visas and controls at the internal air and sea borders will be lifted. Discussions on a date for a possible lifting of the checks on persons at internal land borders will continue in 2024.

The Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU and European Parliament negotiators today reached a provisional deal on amending the Schengen Borders Code. The update in particular clears up rules related to the reintroduction of border controls and offers solutions to situations where migrants are instrumentalised.

Today, Ministers responsible for Home Affairs reached an agreement on the asylum and migration management regulation and the asylum procedure regulation. Both laws are cornerstones of a new European migration and asylum policy.

This seminar will examine new findings on how Schengen emerged, how its current design was shaped and which topics are likely to dominate the future political agenda.  

This report is part of the Commission's initiative to further reinforce the Schengen governance through a yearly reporting exercise presenting the state of Schengen, identifying challenges and best practices, as well as priority areas for action. The State of Schengen Report 2023 will serve as basis for political discussions and steer at the Council on 8 June 2023.

This hybrid annual conference will debate the latest developments and challenges in the EU’s internal and external border management. It will analyse the latest proposals and reforms on the functioning and operation of EU border management systems, including Schengen, as well as Frontex’ role and responsibilities. A particular focus will be given to the ongoing situation at the EU’s eastern border.

This conference will examine the issues at the core of the current debates about Schengen like the balance between solidarity & responsibility between States in liaison with secondary movements of asylum seekers, the persistence of controls at Schengen internal borders, the way to monitor human rights at the external borders, the increasing recourse to large-scale databases,...

In order to preserve and strengthen the Schengen area, the Commission is proposing to update the Schengen Borders Code to adapt the rules for the reintroduction of temporary internal border controls to the current needs to respond to evolving and persistent serious threats to public policy or internal security.

The European Commission is today recommending that Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway phase out the temporary controls currently in place at some of their internal Schengen borders over the next six months.

The European Council on 17-18 December 2015 agreed to speed up actions on the operation of hotspots, the implementation of relocation decisions and returns, the control of external borders and cooperation with third countries.

On the occasion of an informal meeting following the Valletta Summit, heads of state or government focus on the migration crisis, the future of Schengen and cooperation with Turkey.

On the 7th October 2015, the EMN Annual Conference took place in Esch-Belval (Luxembourg). It was dedicated to the 30 years of the Schengen Agreement, as well as to the current challenges to the system regarding border management and irregular migration.

On the 7th of October 2015, the Luxembourg Contact Point of the European Migration Network organizes - in the framework of the Luxembourgish Presidency of the European Council - the EMN Conference on "30 Years of the Schengen Agreement".

On Sunday, 15 March the project on Smart Borders Pilot reached the next milestone - the execution phase – in Lisbon Airport, Portugal.

On 11 November 2014, the European Commission has released its 6th bi-annual report on the functioning of the Schengen area covering the period from 1 May to 31 October 2014.

The Academy of European Law (ERA) organises a conference on the internal border management of the EU.