The European Union and the Member States: two different perceptions of border

Abstract

In this article we analyze two different perceptions of border inside Europe. On the one hand, we have the perception idealized by the European Union as an international organization, which believes that states benefit more from cooperation and dilution of borders in a common space than from keeping its borders as a symbol of its sovereignty. On the other hand, we have the European member states, taken individually, with particular interests and goals that, given the threat of illegal immigration, which is currently felt in the large-scale Europe, adopt a realistic perception of the border, and look at each territory as a space that needs protection from external threats. Following this argument, we reason that the current construction of walls in several European countries reflects the rebirth of a realistic perception of the border, and this is one more challenge for Europe regarding its unity and solidarity. Is this the end of the Schengen Agreement? What is going to happen to the European project if each state unilaterally adopts a strategy to deal with illegal immigration and refugees that are coming to Europe? Can immigration lead to a retrocession of the EU idealist significance of border? Keywords: European Union; European borders; Schengen Agreement; Frontex.Received: January 13, 2016Accepted: March 7, 2016 Introduction F rom the beginning, the founders of the integration process in Europe realized that there is a very important and strong link between integration and borders. It is affirmed in the Preamble of the Treaty of Rome (1958), "Determined to lay the foundations of an ever close union among the peoples of Europe, Resolved to ensure the economic and social progress of their countries by common action to eliminate the barriers which divide Europe". This meant that if we want to achieve an "ever close union", it will require a change regarding the territory of each state, especially in the perception of borders and its functions. The existing divides between the member states have to be replaced with the emergence of a common area, promoting the opening-up of borders inside the EU, and helping to achieve • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original author and source are credited.• Este é um artigo publicado em acesso aberto e distribuído sob os termos da Licença de Atribuição Creative Commons, que permite uso irrestrito, distribuição e reprodução em qualquer meio, desde que o autor e a fonte originais sejam creditados.http://www.rbpi.info Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional ISSN 1983-3121States: two different perceptions of border Rev. Bras. Polít. Int., 59(1): e003, 2016Cierco; Silva 2 the goals of European integration. Within the theories of integration, we have, on the one hand, the neo-functionalism that sees the integration process as transcending political, social or economic borders, decreasing the significanc...

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