I think that the Schengen agreement is great for Europe, current refugee situation aside. For those unfamiliar with it, it essentially means completely free movement inside Schengen region (including most EU countries (but not all) and few countries that aren't part of EU). In practice this means situations like this:
This is from 2004 when we rented bikes at Seefeld, Austria and drove to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (and took train back). Fun little bike trip, although I was quite exhausted after it. Only way to know that we passed from Austria to Germany was this sign (for those now speaking German it says "Country border".)
I'd really hate to see either EU and Shengen agreement to go, but like said, at the moment there is a flood of refugees coming in which is causing lots of trouble all around Europe and making many many people less than happy about open internal borders. There of course is border control when coming inside the region, but at the moment outside borders are leaking pretty badly due to sheer volume of refugees.
The political situation is very touchy and I fear that unrest at Syria and surrounding region isn't making it any better. But I remain hopeful that things will improve yet. At the moment it is all I can do. That, and watch how some people seem to be deliberately doing whatever they can to escalate situation there even more.
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