With Sweden and Denmark reintroducing border controls in a new Europe of razor-wire fences,fear of mass immigration and homegrown terrorism, obituaries are already being writtenDuring a crash in a working day recently, or Rainer Maring decided on impulse to take his apprentice for a mini history lesson. The pair of German painters and decorators got in the company van at lunchtime and took their ham sandwiches across the river Mosel from Germany to Luxembourg,into the vine-clad village of Schengen.
You cross the bridge from Germany into Luxembourg, turn left, and 300 metres on you’re in France – three countries in approximately three minutes,and not a police officer in sight. In 1985, ministers from five governments met here to launch a bold experiment in border-free travel. Cars and lorries with green dot stickers on their windshields could roam the five countries – the same three plus Belgium and the Netherlands – without passports.
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Source: theguardian.com