FURTHER UPDATE October 2010 The dismantling of the police booths on the A9 motorway began this week. The whole border is to be pulled down, but beware! There is talk of retaining a speed limit of 80 or 90 km in this area for some time to come. FURTHER UPDATE August 2010 Customs booths on the Perthus-La Jonquera border must be dismantled before September. The dismantling operation is expected to cost……17 million euro!!! this will be paid by the Commission Européenne (CE) in Paris. UPDATE The physical border between France and Spain, both at Le Perthus and on the A9, has been abolished. Threats by the EU to impose fines of over 10 million euros if customs booths are not dismantled, have finally hit home. French Spanish border contravenes Schengen The European Union has once again asked the French and Spanish governments to dismantle the customs booths on the Le Perthus/La Jonquera border. According to the Schengen agreement of 1995, internal borders were to be abolished and EU members would have ‘ free movement of persons’ Some members (the United Kingdom and Ireland) opted not to fully participate in the Schengen system but France and Spain were not amongst these. Despite heavy summer traffic bottlenecks at both motorway and Le Pethus borders, it appears that the Catalan frontier is the most heavily manned and controlled by both French and Spanish police on a regular basis, of any other border in the EU! |