ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Schengen Agreement

The Schengen Agreement is like a big club that a lot of European countries are in. These countries decided they wanted to make it easier for people to travel between their countries without having to show their passports or go through border controls each time they crossed a border.

When you travel from one country to another in Europe, you usually have to show your passport at the border so the officials in that country can check who you are and make sure you're allowed to come into their country. This takes time and can be a hassle. But with the Schengen Agreement, people can travel freely between countries without having to show their passports or get stopped at the border.

The idea behind this agreement is that it makes it easier for people to travel for work or leisure, and it helps businesses that operate across borders by making it easier to move goods and services between countries. It's a bit like creating one big country out of lots of smaller countries, where everyone can move around without having to show their papers each time they cross a border.

Of course, there are rules to make sure everything is fair and safe. Each country in the Schengen Agreement has to agree to follow the same rules on things like migration, visa policies, and border control. They also have to work together to make sure their police and security services can share information and cooperate in order to keep everyone safe.

Overall, the Schengen Agreement is all about making life easier for people who want to travel or work across borders, and it works by creating a big zone where everyone can move around freely without too much hassle.