THE NEW VISA-WAIVER SYSTEM FOR THE SCHENGEN AREA WILL LEAD TO A REAL FORTRESS WALL BETWEEN NORTH-EAST ENGLAND/ SCOTLAND AND NORWAY. THIS IS A TOPIC FOR A MAJOR DOCUMENTARY IN NORTH-EAST ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND THAT IS NOT BEEN MENTIONED- AND IT SHOULD BE!
21st September 2024
Dear Readers
In recent months I have covered the wider regional links that northern North-East England and East/ NE Scotland have across the North Sea with Norway, and how the fact that the UK is outside Europe’s Schengen Zone adversely impacts those ties. Business based in, and folk who live in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North and South Tyneside and Northumberland- along with the north-eastern half of Scotland have more and wider regional connections with Norway by virtue of relative geographic proximity. This is not to say that any part of Scandinavia is local to any part of Northumberland, so it should not feature regularly in Regional TV output, but these links are real. Principally, the connections that folk have with Norway from Northumberland, Tyneside and north-east Scotland are family connections, friendships through visiting, and work connections.
Many Norwegians and Swedes also have connections with the North-East and with Scotland through placements at universities like Edinburgh’s Herriott Watt and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. They may also have connections through the oil and offshore wind-industry in the North Sea, the coastline of which borders Norway, eastern Scotland, and North-East England. Likewise, Norwegians visit Scotland and North-East England and have a greater affinity with the folk, places, and countryside which certainly have more in common with their own communities than those across the southern half of the UK.
VIEW FROM THE NORTHUMBERLAND COAST NEAR SEAHOUSES. VIEW NORTH-EAST TOWARDS THE FARNE ISLANDS IN FRONT OF WHICH CAN BE SEEN TWO SMALL BOATS. THE INNER FARNE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE IS ABOUT THREE MILES FROM THIS POINT. IN THE FUTURE, A BOAT TRIP TO THE FARNE ISLANDS MIGHT BE THE CLOSEST MANY NORTHUMBRIAN FOLK ARE ABLE TO GET TO BEAUTIFUL NORWAY, WHERE THEY MAY HAVE FAMILY MEMBERS THAT THEY CANNOT VISIT . A BRIGHT WARM LATE SUMMER’S DAY. PHOTO TAKEN ON 28TH AUGUST 2024 COURTESY OF IAN PENNELL.
These connections across the northern North Sea between Northumbria, Scotland and Norway are also threatened by the aftermath of Brexit, which many in North-East England understandably voted for out of concern about immigration and of wanting MPs who they vote into office to have direct influence over the laws they are subject to. I have covered matters relating to the border between Norway and Northumbria/ Scotland at length in a recent article- link here: https://looknorthmustlooknorth.org/2024/06/06/the-hard-border-in-the-north-sea-that-may-get-even-harder-that-northumbrian-broadcasters-wont-mention/ . Whilst no part of Norway is local the greater family, business and community links between Northumberland/ Tyneside and Norway means that there should- perhaps once every few weeks- be Region- specific news-features discussing these cross-North Sea links and how matters like Schengen and some of the side-effects of Brexit impact on them. At the very least, there should be documentaries on BBC1 NE/ Cumbria, BBC1 Scotland, ITV1 Tyne Tees & Border and STV (East, NE and North Scotland transmission regions), which provide coverage of the links between north-eastern Britain and Scandinavia- along with matters affecting these.
What the New ETIAS Visa Waiver Scheme means for Northumbrian- Scottish- Nordic Connections
From Summer 2025 the European Schengen Area will have a much tighter border thanks to the introduction of a Visa Waiver Scheme called the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS). It will be similar to how the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) Visa Waiver programme works for those wanting to visit the USA. In short, ETIAS is designed (like ESTA for the USA) to protect the European Schengen Area (which includes Norway and Iceland, even though both are outside of the European Union). ETIAS is designed to stop those who may pose a real threat to citizens and communities inside the Schengen Area from getting into Schengen, that is, to stop terrorists, paedophiles, murderers, etc from getting into the Schengen Zone. How it works is that one must obtain an ETIAS Visa Waiver (travel authorisation) to visit the Schengen Area- which everyone from outside Schengen and from outside the EU (this applies to the UK, including of course Northeast England) – to travel to Europe.
Everyone needing an ETIAS Travel Authorisation to use with their Passport has to fill in an application form in which they are asked questions about their reasons for travel to the Schengen Area, their qualifications and current occupation, and crucially on the ETIAS application they will be asked about past criminal convictions. If one has been convicted on an offence within the previous ten years one will have to declare it on the ETIAS application form, in the case of a terrorism offence one would need to declare this going back twenty years. Additionally, anyone who has been to prison for more than 30 months for an offence will be declined for an ETIAS Travel Authorisation and they will not, therefore, be allowed to travel to Europe. More details about how those having a criminal history will be impacted by the requirement to have ETIAS Travel Authorisation can be found here: https://www.etias.org/etias-questions/can-i-apply-for-etias-with-a-criminal-record/. One can also read more about ETIAS and how it will work by clicking on this link here: https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/what-etias_en/.
The Schengen Area’s ETIAS Visa Waiver Scheme will make it much harder for folk to travel from the UK to any part of Europe (except, of course, Ireland which is part of the British Common Travel Area). Even for those who do not have criminal records the ETIAS Travel Authorisation will need to be re-applied for every three years. But it is the devastating impact that ETIAS, policed and administered by the European Border and Coastguard authorities (FRONTEX), will have on historical and community ties between Northumberland, Tyneside, eastern Scotland, and Norway that is a real concern. This is so serious in its impact that all viewers of Regional News living in Northumberland, Tyneside and Scotland need to hear a detailed report- or better still a good few Regional documentaries- about ETIAS and how it will impact on anyone with a past who lives in Northern Britain who has ties with Norway. And the BBC and ITV.Plc Regional outlets in Scotland and North-East England need to start telling folk about how the Hard Border in the northern North Sea is about to become an Impenetrable Fortress- and soon!
A Northumberland Family Man Will Not Be Able to take a Short Trip to the beautiful Hardangervidda Plateau With His Family After Having To Protect His Children Against a Yob
A hypothetical example will illustrate how singularly devastating this ETIAS Travel Authorisation could be: A family man punches a young man threatening his children and he ends up going to jail for it. This family man, with connections to Norway, having visited Voss on a skiing trip in his teens wants to take his family there on a short break. However, the young man threatening his children altered his plans. He’s arrested, and sent to jail for punching the young man, even though the young man was throwing rocks at his children. When the man comes out of jail he has to do two years of probation, which means that he cannot make this trip in any case.
After the term of probation is finished this family man plans this Norway trip for his family, to help the family- after some tough years. This is 2026, so the whole family has to apply for an ETIAS Travel Authorisation, just for the hop over the North Sea to visit Norway. Alas, this family man has to declare his criminal conviction, and soon he discovers he is rejected on the basis of his “violent criminal conviction”. The family are devastated, but unbowed the man applies to get a Schengen Visa at considerable expense, and this involving a round-trip of 700 miles to the Norwegian Embassy in London. On the Schengen VISA application the man has to declare his conviction- and he is again rejected on the basis of it!
Just to rub salt in the wounds, this family hear on the BBC National news how an Algerian who came from Algeria to Portugal on a boat, got asylum in Portugal because of “A risk of violence if sent back to Algeria”, who travelled to Norway undetected through the open borders between Schengen countries to rape two children on the outskirts of Bergen. The family man rages about the injustice of Schengen and ETIAS.
Whilst this may be a fairly extreme example of the injustice that ETIAS could bring, there are certain to be variations on it when it comes into operation next summer. The ETIAS system will not stop all immigration from North Africa or countries like Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan- unless the coastguards of southern European counties, Romania or Turkey rigorously intercept boat-loads of illegal immigrants and take them back from whence they came. In the case of illegal immigration from North Africa to Spain this does not always happen: https://www.statista.com/topics/7855/illegal-immigration-in-spain/. A number of European countries do not automatically do this, and once inside a Schengen Area country it is often relatively easy for asylum-seekers to persuade the authorities that they are in danger, to obtain at least temporary asylum- with some form of ID Card. Once folk are inside the European Schengen Area (of which Norway is part), they can travel easily without the need for so much as a Passport. Indeed, it is possible for immigrants from North Africa to hop across to Spain on a boat without being stopped and who, once they are in Spain can give a sad story to the authorities and obtain asylum (sometimes they are returned or sent to detention centres in Spain, but not always). Having done that they can travel anywhere in the Schengen Area- including over 2,000 miles up to Norway to do what they will.
All of Britain will be affected by the ETIAS Travel Authorisation Scheme
On the other hand, the new ETIAS Travel authorisation will lock out of Europe folk who may have just once or twice reacted badly to extreme pressure or provocation but who are otherwise decent folk. This will happen to folk coming from neighbouring countries such as the UK, a country which is part of NATO along with much of Europe: These folk could be screened out by ETIAS because they come from just outside the Schengen Zone and who have made a mistake in their past. So, the ETIAS Travel Authorisation will not screen out those from hostile countries determined to get into Europe by fair means or foul, but thousands of otherwise decent folk who have done something in the heat of the moment in their pasts. Decent folk who live law-abiding lives do not hop into dinghies to try to sail to Europe without Passports or other necessary travel authorisation, but it is these folk whom (if they have done something in their past) are liable to fall foul of the ETIAS screening process.
The impact of Europe’s ETIAS Travel Authorisation, when it is launched in summer next year will affect the whole of the United Kingdom, and it will make it harder for folk to travel to anywhere in mainland Europe or Scandinavia. For anyone with a past (we are not here talking about rapists, murderers, or terrorists, just folk who got into a fight when they were younger who obtained a criminal conviction because of it), they are liable to be refused an ETIAS Travel Authorisation. They can travel to the embassy of the European country they wish to visit to obtain a special Schengen Visa, but they could even be declined for that.
The guidelines are that ETIAS application only asks for details of convictions in the previous ten years, but the application states that one must include terrorism offences going back twenty years. The Schengen Border authorities (FRONTEX) will certainly amass a database of all travellers into and out of the Schengen Zone, and they will collaborate to get information independently to check folk out if they are suspicious. The Schengen Border authorities are already clear that if ever one has been in prison for more than two and a half years that one will be refused entry into Schengen: How will they find that out if it’s further back than ten years? By searching Court records and getting a Police Check on all ETIAS applicants, of course! And one’s application will be rejected!
Folk who have travelled from the UK to Europe for holidays, to visit family, or for business in the past will suddenly find themselves unable to: The Schengen Border authorities (FRONTEX) will have the wherewithal and guidance to dig about in the past of anyone who applies for a ETIAS Travel Authorisation and discover misdemeanours from their youth- and summarily reject their application so they will not be able to enter the Schengen Area. This could impact hundreds of thousands, if not millions of folk from Britain alone- folk who have always been able to visit Europe but will soon not be able to. More than 12.5 million people who live in the UK have a criminal record from recent statistics (https://unlock.org.uk/new-figures-confirm-more-than-12-5-million-people-in-the-uk-have-a-criminal-record/). The potential impact of the ETIAS Travel Authorisation Policy is massive!
As this will affect the travel plans of those wishing to travel to Europe and disrupt the family relationships of those who have family in Europe, the ETIAS Scheme will adversely impact the lives of millions of people and their families across Britain. The BBC and ITV.Plc need to do a National documentary about the wide-ranging and negative impacts of the ETIAS Travel Authorisation Scheme, and how it will directly impact on those with family, leisure, or business connections with mainland Europe. Such a documentary would need to discuss this in terms of potentially millions of Britons being effectively locked in their own country unable to go abroad, and of the need for the new Labour Government in Britain needing to collaborate and negotiate intensely to mitigate some of the more unfair and perverse impacts of the proposed ETIAS Travel Authorisation Scheme.
The Impact of the ETIAS Travel Authorisation on Northumbrian/ Scottish- Norwegian Business and Community Relationships Could Be Devastating
Let’s now look at how this affects communities in northern North East England and in eastern Scotland, and the historic connections and kinship across the northern North Sea to Norway: As I have covered in previous posts, the north-east quadrant of Britain (that is, North East England and eastern Scotland) has significant ties with Norway by virtue of proximity that is not found in other parts of Britain. For instance, I discussed these matters of these wider Regional connections being covered by broadcast media in Scotland and North East England here https://looknorthmustlooknorth.org/2024/03/02/regional-links-for-communities-in-coastal-north-northumberland-are-scarce-recognised-by-regional-news-broadcasters/.
The geographic- specific nature of businesses, such as those involved in the oil and fishing industry, based in Tyneside, Northumberland and eastern Scotland is such that workers and business- owners will travel across the North Sea to do fishing, to visit oil- platforms and collaborate with Norwegian colleagues across the North Sea, just 400 miles to the north-east. The ETIAS Travel Authorisation Scheme will make a Hard Border in the North Sea (made harder after Brexit)- an Impenetrable Fortress Wall, across which travel for business and collaboration with Norwegian colleagues could be made nigh-on impossible. It is impossible to underscore how adversely this will impact on businesses in Scotland, Northeast England and indeed Norway. It will cause grief and devastation for communities and families in Norway, as well as in Northumberland/ Tyneside/ eastern Scotland: Folk will be cut off from friends, family relationships, and places that they would like to visit.
Just who, which TV broadcasting organisations, in Scotland, North-East England, and indeed in Norway are reporting on this huge, potentially devastating impact on families and businesses in Northumbria, Scotland and western Norway too? Some-one should be preparing at least a few documentaries to alert the public in our most Northern communities about devastating impacts of an Impenetrable fortress, in effect, being erected in the North Sea. Whole communities, likely to be impacted by this major change need to be alerted so that folk can get on to their local MP or (in Scotland, MSP). In Norway, communities rely on a lot of tourism from the UK (amongst other things) for their local economy- the changes will be economically harmful, so folk there will need to get on to their local representative in the Storting (Norwegian Parliament), so that something is done about it: That something may involve the Norwegian authorities, realising what is about to happen, deciding to stand up to the EU to explain that they won’t be imposing draconian controls on folk coming from neighbouring regions with which they have long had good relationships with.
This will also involve the new Labour Government in the UK discussing the matter of ETIAS and how it will affect the entirety of the UK at the highest level with the European Union: That’s because millions of men and women who in their youth had psychiatric episodes, who were involved in drugs and shop-lifting, or were part of a gang that did joy-riding- people who have gone straight for the last ten to thirty years are set to be excluded from visiting family, friends, nice holiday destinations they may have often visited hitherto. Just to be clear, we are not talking about murderers, rapists, paedophiles, or terrorists here- from which the European authorities have every right to try and protect the countries under their authority: We are talking about those who have made mistakes in their past, who were delinquent as a child or young adult who should (at least) be given a second chance at life- including doing the things that law- abiding citizens can do.
The British Labour Party, which has shown itself to be very concerned about some of the side-effects of Brexit (which followed the June 2016 Referendum on leaving the EU), should at least realise that most of those who voted for Britain to retain full control of its borders and laws did not sign up to an impenetrable barrier in the North Sea across which they cannot cross: Most folk living in North East England (which -as a Region- voted to leave the EU by 58% to the 42% who voted to remain in the EU), they did not vote to be cut off from friends and family living overseas, nor to be cut off from their favourite holiday destinations. Folk living in North-East England and Scotland like to go on hot sunny holidays- in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece- once every year or two, so they will be affected by the ETIAS scheme: However, it will not be so devastating for hot-sun seekers with a criminal history, as for a North Sea wind-farm mechanic from Tyneside with colleagues in Norway: The British overseas territory of the island of Cyprus (and which is not part of the Schengen Area) in the Mediterranean,- gets hot sunny summers and variably warm winters with some sun so sun-seekers could be content with that. However, communities and business-workers in the north-eastern quadrant of the UK with connections to Norway by virtue of their geographic proximity (or that of their places of work) will be cut off from family and suffer career- ending catastrophe as a consequence of the ETIAS Travel Authorisation measures.
ETIAS could have Heart-breaking Consequences for Communities in Northumberland, Tyneside, and eastern Scotland- and in Norway.
Wider- regional cross-border community and business links in the most north-easterly parts of Britain and western Norway stand to be dealt a devastating blow as a result of the ETIAS Travel Authorisation measures aimed at protecting the Schengen Area (which includes Norway). The language, dialects, culture, climate, and geography of these regions are not so different from each other, whilst there’s nothing in common with Trøndelag county in central-northern Norway and the Andalucia region of southern Spain over 2,400 miles to the south- other than being included in a vast continent-wide free travel area that nonetheless excludes island communities off Europe’s north-west coast. The Norwegian Government, the Scottish Government and the British Labour Government need to be made aware of some of the unfair situations that could arise as a consequence of the ETIAS measures, situations mean communities separated, business activity in the North Sea threatened and economic activity in western Norway being hit.
Certain industries such as forestry, fishing, renewable energy and great musical talent is common to North-East England, Scotland and Norway, and these sectors across these regions can only be harmed if large number of men and women involved in these industries cannot travel and meet people- because the Schengen Border authorities (FRONTEX) can screen them and dig up episodes from their younger days to exclude them from travelling!
With regard to what Regional News broadcasters should broadcast in North-East England and Scotland they should produce a whole documentary series exploring how ETIAS will harm cross-border ties and relationships, not just one or two documentary programmes. The impact ETIAS will have on coastal Northumberland and Tyneside will be similar, if not more severe than various on-off lockdowns dictated at an international level by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and implemented by the British Government. The effect would be similar- to stop people travelling out of the country (but at least that would be temporary)!
What the new Labour Government should do
Why should canny Geordie and Northumbrian folk be forced to accept restrictions on where they should go on a permanent basis because of the diktats of an organisation over which they have little control (FRONTEX)? Our new Labour MPs in the North-East and Scotland need to realise what is happening behind the scenes and confront the Prime Minister over ETIAS. Our new Prime Minister Sir. Keir Starmer needs to be on the phone to the EU President Ursula von der Leyen to talk about ETIAS as a matter of urgency because millions of Britons are about to be cut-off from families, overseas colleagues and favourite holiday destinations by the ETIAS Scheme because they have a history, but that these are folk who should have a second chance. He should hold the line, and he must point out to Mrs. Von der Leyen that requirements for Britons to declare criminal convictions (except rape, murder, grievous bodily-harm or terrorism) over more ten years’ previously should be changed, and that FRONTEX should be prevailed upon to let British folk into the Schengen Area unless they have committed serious crimes or are a real danger.
Separately, Sir. Keir Starmer needs to collaborate with the governments of countries outside of the EU but are within the Schengen area, such as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland to encourage them to hold firm against the EU (perhaps by promising to pay the fines that the EU might impose on them if they did stand up to the EU), and to allow folk to visit them from friendly neighbouring regions that are nonetheless outside Schengen. The Norwegian authorities and especially those of little Iceland (population under 400,000) could be cowed, but Britain could use her relative economic might to preserve Free Movement of People between northern Britain, Iceland and Norway by promising to help compensate Iceland and Norway for the loss of access to the Single Market.
All five Nordic countries, that’s Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland- plus the Faeroe Islands, Spitzbergen, and Greenland- could be invited to join the British Common Travel Area consisting of the UK, the Irish Republic, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands,- to make one big Northern Travel Area. Since Norwegians, Swedes, Finns and Danes are all taught English from an early age, but not so much German or French (and even less so of Spanish) they might find that there are real economic benefits to being part of a large Northern Common Travel (or Nordic) block of which they know the language better, and find the people with whom they can mix to have more in common with them in terms of culture, ethnic origin, and a friendlier camaraderie.
Sir. Keir Starmer and his Labour Party could negotiate some sort of Schengen-lite membership for the UK to deal with the ETIAS issue, without compromising on the freedom of people coming from countries hostile to the UK (i.e., some Arab countries, or those with authoritarian regimes like China), and without losing control of legislation over UK affairs. The proposed ETIAS Travel Authorisation Scheme is a time-bomb about to go off some time in late 2025 to 2027, and angry voters will demand answers of the Government to get the restrictions on holiday and other plans lifted/ eased. The Labour Government could also promise to modify Britain’s own foreign screening programme- Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), at least for European-born citizens as a quid-pro-quo for getting some sort of Schengen-lite access to the Schengen Area for Britons.
Those in the British Labour Party might not consider it, but voters in Northern England and Scotland might be receptive of a back-stop threat of some tariffs on EU imports as a way of raising money to help their Nordic kinsmen stand up to the EU and ensuring that they can access the beautiful places there. The EU is likely to retain a “No Cherry- Picking” stance (as they did with Britain during Brexit negotiations), so intensive and constructive negotiations need to be backed up with an ultimate back-stop. Voters will wish to vent their fury at FRONTEX over ETIAS, so I put it out there that this is something that will land on Sir. Keir Starmer’s In-tray soon. It is voters who can write to their new Labour MPs to urge them to put pressure on the Government to confront the EU over the proposed ETIAS Travel Authorisation Scheme, with the threat that they will not vote for their Labour MPs if voters’ concerns are not acted upon. It is then that greater pressure is put upon our Labour Government, which in turn would have a real incentive to try to collaborate with the EU to rectify the ETIAS threat. This should not mean watering down Brexit (for which millions of North-East English voters would be apoplectic, though Britain’s own ETA Scheme could be relaxed for, say, Schengen-born nationals). Yet many of those same voters would not be appeciative of what could end up for them as a kind of International Travel Lockdown imposed permanently: They would still vent their fury at the ballot box!
In terms of the potential impact on people’s lives here in the North, the ETIAS Scheme is worse than the problem of “Small boats of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel” that have made headlines and prompted mass-concern. Sir. Keir Starmer has visited Italy and spent time with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to pick her brains for solutions to deal with this problem because it is a concern to traditional Labour voters (that is most of the English North-East), and Sir. Keir Starmer knows very well that if Labour is not seen to address this matter his Party could voted out of office. People will begin to feel the acute impact of the ETIAS Travel Authorisation Scheme from next summer through 2026 and 2027, and the Labour Government had better find some answers and prevail upon the EU leaders to address the problems that ETIAS poses to Geordies and Northumbrians- and others across Britain (using firm but friendly negotiating tactics and the power of persuasion over several months, only threatening some tariffs as a last resort if the EU will not budge over a long period of time).
The British Labour government- based in London- also needs to realise that folk living in North-East England and Scotland have different regional affiliations (including wider regional affiliations which will be threatened by ETIAS) than other parts of the UK: Thus, Mr. Starmer needs to talk to Jonas Gahr Støre, the Norwegian Prime Minister and provide him with cover to stand up to the EU with regards the Norway- Northern Britain connections threatened by the ETIAS Scheme: Otherwise, Labour will lose support, – because Scottish and Northumbrian folk value their Nordic friends and family members across the North Sea,- and the freedom to visit beautiful places cross-borders.
Kind Regards
Ian Pennell
(Look North Must Look North)
LOOK NORTH MUST LOOK NORTH 