Schengen zone and the participation in several countries

Several countries are already members of the travel free Schengen agreement zone, however they have the option to choose whether or not to apply the new measures that are taken under the European Commission Treaty that works within the framework of the European Union. This is valid even for the countries that made a development of the Schengen zone in first place. For example, Denmark is bound with certain measures that it has to follow under the common visa policy.

The United Kingdom and Ireland can take part in all or in some of the Schengen agreements according to the protocol from the Treaty of Amsterdam. This can happen if the member states of Schengen and the government representative of the country vote in favor within the Council. In general, the United Kingdom tries to cooperate in some aspects of Schengen, which include the judicial cooperation and the police cooperation, as well as the application of the SIS system. In year 2000 Ireland also asked to take part in some aspects of Schengen that were covered by the request of the United Kingdom. The request of Ireland was approved in 2002. When Bulgaria becomes part of the Schengen agreement, it’s believed that the country will accept all agreements concerning Schengen as a full member.