The Impact of Integration of the Czech Republic into Schengen
The recent enlargement of the Schengen zone has been a major step towards the completion of the integration process of the enlarged EU that is based on the four fundamental freedoms, including the free movement of persons within the Union.On 21 December 2007, the Czech Republic joined the Schengen area. Border checks at the land borders were abolished at midnight from 20 to 21 December 2007. At the international airports, border checks on intra-Schengen flights came to an end on 30 March 2008. Since 21 December 2007, the Czech Republic has been fully participating in the Schengen cooperation, thus being a member of a group of countries which carry out no border checks at their common borders and which have brought their efforts to fulfil the right of free movement of persons to a successful end. The 2007 Schengen enlargement can be seen as a symbolic end to the imaginary division of Europe into the "West" and the "East" and it means that people are allowed to cross land borders without the obligation to present an identity document at former border-crossing points.What does the fact that the Czech Republic is a Member State of the Schengen area mean in practice? The main objective of this work will acquire and carry out analyses of impacts of the integration of the Czech Republic to the Schengen area (political, economic, social etc.). The practical part of the work deals with the characteristics of means of the Schengen cooperation for instance in the sphere of the police or judicial cooperation, the personal data security etc. Another part focuses on the factual impacts of the Schengen cooperation on the Czech Republic in everyday life, e. g. the state of criminality, travel, or the situation of the former border crossings. The abolition of border checks at land borders and the possibility to cross the former border crossing points without a stop was the most visible, yet not the only change arising from the integration of the Czech Republic in the Schengen area