Noah Feldman, Columnist

EU Without Open Borders Isn't the EU

Refugee crisis shows how Europe needs to do more to integrate.

November 19, 2015 at 7:00 AM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Halt! Who goes there?
Photographer: Jean-Pierre Clatot/AFP/Getty Images

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President Francois Hollande has closed France's borders for three months after Friday's terrorist attacks on Paris. But this is only the latest shutdown to threaten Europe's coherence and unity. European Council President Donald Tusk warned last week of a “race against time” to save the 1985 Schengen Agreement, which created open borders among almost all members of the European Union as well as a few other countries.

That's putting it mildly. Germany, the EU’s 800-pound gorilla, closed its border with Austria in September. Even Sweden, the most welcoming European country when it comes to refugees, has implemented border checks.