Borders
I) Latest developments
II) General context
The Schengen Area guarantees free movement within a territory of 25 countries, home to more than 400 million citizens. It has 42 673 km of sea and 7 778 km of land frontiers.
The abolition of borders between the Schengen members brought with it a need to coordinate a more effective surveillance of their external borders as well at the necessity of law and rule harmonisation and increased cooperation in the areas of fight against drugs, arms trafficking and organised crime in general, police cooperation and visa policies.