Since the non-role of the UK before and after Brexit in the context of Schengen law has needlessly been brought up in this thread that a Canadian national started with a question about long stay visas in the context of walking the Via Francigena in 2024 one might as well set the record straight for our captive overseas audience and present the view from our side (see last paragraph)
. I guess we do have a right to reply?
The Schengen idea which includes the abolition of border checks for people and goods at border checkpoints was conceived nearly 40 years ago when the EU consisted of only 10 countries and Spain had not yet joined. The prime movers and shakers - Germany, France, and the Benelux countries - wanted to move ahead with economic integration while others, among them the UK and Denmark, were either not interested or generally opposed to the idea. That's why these 5 countries created a framework of international law, separate from the EU legal framework, which became the Schengen area. Much later and after numerous other EU countries had joined the Schengen concept, these laws were integrated into EU law.
While this legal framework was developed over the years with the help of new and innovative laws, the UK consistently opted out of them. Search EU legal database EurLex for the phrase "
This Regulation constitutes a development of provisions of the Schengen acquis in which the United Kingdom does not take part" and you will find over a hundred of such laws. They also state "
the United Kingdom is therefore not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation". The UK, by their own choice, had no role to play and no say in relation to all things Schengen.
During the negotiations about the legal framework for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, various options were offered: stay in the EU Single Market; stay in the EU customs union; or join the NIL club of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The option of a system of separate agreements like the ones between the EU and Switzerland was not offered because this system has become too cumbersome. The UK was not interested and opted for becoming a third country, just like the USA, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, and subsequently UK nationals moved to the same status as nationals from these countries (with a few exceptions for British people who already lived in the EU): they became third country nationals (TCN).
And that's not political talk, it's merely a summary of facts. You could look them up in Wikipedia for example. The keyword is
Schengen acquis.
I am old enough that I still vividly remember the day when, on the motorway between two EU countries, you no longer had to slow down when approaching the border checkpoint; no longer had to turn into a lane on the right to pass the border police booths; no longer had to wrestle out your ID card or passport and awkwardly hold your short arm out of the car window and stretch as far as you could to hand it over to the border official for a check; no longer had to answer questions about any goods in your car - whether old and used own possessions or newly bought. You could just continue driving, straight on and at your usual speed, as if there was no national border. Yippiee! It felt great. It still does.
