Bulgaria And Romania Partially Join Schengen Area

The Schengen Agreement was originally signed on the 14th of June 1985 by five of the ten EC member states in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg (hence the name). These five countries were Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

When consensus could not be reached among all EC member states on the abolition of border controls, the Schengen Area was established separately from the EC.

The 1985 Schengen Agreement was supplemented in 1990 by the Schengen Convention, which proposed the abolition of internal border controls. This led to the creation of the Schengen Area on the 26th of March 1995. In 1995 Portugal and Spain, joined the Schengen Area.

The Schengen Area expanded over the years as follows: