Students who attended the MIA session of the Mini-European Assembly on Thursday had a real initiation into what Schengen will be when they tried to enter the security area of the airport and were stopped by the soldier manning the desk.

For the NSTF-organised session was held at the new Schengen area in the Arrivals Lounge and to access that area they had to provide a valid ID card and be checked for security.

Whereas Schengen will mean that Maltese citizens will not have to show their passports whenever they exit or return to Malta as long as they are travelling to another Schengen member country.

Schengen, as MIA CEO Peter Bolech explained in his presentation, will have a double function: among the Schengen member States, it will mean one free Europe, but externally it will mean a stronger border for those trying to get into the Schengen area from outside.

Providing Malta gains accession to Schengen this year, it will be the next step in Malta’s integration into European living, even before Malta accesses the euro and thus the third level of European integration.

Doing away with the need to use passports between European nations is a far cry from the passport’s original intention: when created, 500 years ago, a passport signified its holder, a mercenary soldier, was legal and could pass through the next frontier.

When Schengen comes into being for the new accession member States, it will be possible to travel from Riga to Lisbon, and thence to Malta without your passport and using one currency.