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German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

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Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#11

Post by lucideer »

FigBug wrote: post #7
Faaak wrote: post #2

> There is no border control due to the Schengen Agreement, therefore daily life is not really impacted. That's the most interesting part to me. I cross the border every day to go to work. Yet, when a friend came to visit us and we we to the city, he couldn't believe that we were crossing a border that easily (France-Switzerland). It was literally an open fence with a sign welcoming you. It's really awesome when you…

This is what I was expecting when I drove between Switzerland-Italy in 2016. Except I was stopped, told to park, had my passport examined with with a loupe, and then was sent on my way. Are the borders back to normal now?

A few countries have started to introduce this recently due to paranoia around Syrian refugees. It's extremely controversial, as it basically nullifies Schengen, but countries are apparently allowed by the agreement to put these spot checks in place (provided some political procedures) up to 20 out of every 60 days.

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#12

Post by dividuum »

Odd borders are funny. Here's two other examples: The utter chaos in Baarle. They even have nested enclaves. So area of Netherlands surrounded by Belgium surrounded by Netherlands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Nassau

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/51.4402/4.9316

Between Germany and Switzerland, there's the German exclave Büsingen am Hochrhein. They have odd tax rules as Swiss VAT is applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCsingen_am_Hochrhein

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/47.6941/8.6910

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#14

Post by onetimemanytime »

FigBug wrote: post #7
Faaak wrote: post #2

> There is no border control due to the Schengen Agreement, therefore daily life is not really impacted. That's the most interesting part to me. I cross the border every day to go to work. Yet, when a friend came to visit us and we we to the city, he couldn't believe that we were crossing a border that easily (France-Switzerland). It was literally an open fence with a sign welcoming you. It's really awesome when you…

This is what I was expecting when I drove between Switzerland-Italy in 2016. Except I was stopped, told to park, had my passport examined with with a loupe, and then was sent on my way. Are the borders back to normal now?

IIRC, they do random checks. 100 people don't get stopped, 1 does or whatever. Maybe random, maybe a hunch, maybe both.

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#15

Post by mandelken »

toyg wrote: post #9
FigBug wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I was expecting when I drove between Switzerland-Italy in 2016. Except I was stopped, told to park, had my passport examined with with a loupe, and then was sent on my way. Are the borders back to normal now?

Probably not. The Italian Northern border has been repeatedly “closed to Schengen” by neighbours because of the migration crisis. France, Switzerland and Austria basically keep suspending the treaty unilaterally whenever they feel like, as well as carrying out further abuses (like French Police illegally crossing the border and unloading migrants in a forest before driving back).

They are not suspending the Schengen treaty, obviously. The treaty explicitly allows for temporary border controls. Crossing the border to offload migrants on the other hand is obviously illegal.

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#17

Post by zaarn »

FigBug wrote: post #7
Faaak wrote: post #2

> There is no border control due to the Schengen Agreement, therefore daily life is not really impacted. That's the most interesting part to me. I cross the border every day to go to work. Yet, when a friend came to visit us and we we to the city, he couldn't believe that we were crossing a border that easily (France-Switzerland). It was literally an open fence with a sign welcoming you. It's really awesome when you…

This is what I was expecting when I drove between Switzerland-Italy in 2016. Except I was stopped, told to park, had my passport examined with with a loupe, and then was sent on my way. Are the borders back to normal now?

Random border checks are normal, even in Schengen, usually it's by Customs, sometimes it's highway/Autobahn police. Spotchecks are perfectly normal, though they've been elevated on some borders due to the refugee crisis (atleast in germany).

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#18

Post by paglia_s »

FigBug wrote: post #7
Faaak wrote: post #2

> There is no border control due to the Schengen Agreement, therefore daily life is not really impacted. That's the most interesting part to me. I cross the border every day to go to work. Yet, when a friend came to visit us and we we to the city, he couldn't believe that we were crossing a border that easily (France-Switzerland). It was literally an open fence with a sign welcoming you. It's really awesome when you…

This is what I was expecting when I drove between Switzerland-Italy in 2016. Except I was stopped, told to park, had my passport examined with with a loupe, and then was sent on my way. Are the borders back to normal now?

It could have been that you got caught in the "random" checks applied after terrorist attacks or during the migration crisis but Switzerland is a weird case in that they're part of the Schengen area but not of the custom union. So for example, while between France and Italy there is literally no border station the border between Switzerland and other countries look like a normal border since they have to check goods. People shouldn't be subject to border checks but it happens

Re: German exclaves in Belgium separated by a bicycle path from the rest of Germany

#19

Post by ceejayoz »

Faaak wrote: post #2

> There is no border control due to the Schengen Agreement, therefore daily life is not really impacted. That's the most interesting part to me. I cross the border every day to go to work. Yet, when a friend came to visit us and we we to the city, he couldn't believe that we were crossing a border that easily (France-Switzerland). It was literally an open fence with a sign welcoming you. It's really awesome when you…

> It was literally an open fence with a sign welcoming you.

I was once on the TGV from Paris to Switzerland and passport control consisted of the conductor coming into the car and asking if anyone wasn't allowed in Switzerland.

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