European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek will attend the celebrations in Luxembourg to mark the 25th anniversary of the Schengen Agreement.

It was on 14 June 1985 that Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the Schengen Agreement in the small town of Schengen, Luxembourg, very close to the borders of France and Germany. The accord, and the subsequent convention adopted in 1990 to implement it, agreed to abolish systematic border controls between the countries, allowing free movement of persons.

The Schengen Agreement is an agreement between various countries in Europe to guarantee free movement of persons between countries. Signatory states to the agreement abolish all borders between countries in lieu of a single external border on the edge of the Schengen Area.

To celebrate this fact, the state of Luxembourg in collaboration with the European Commission is organising a number of festivities throughout June 2010.

On the 13 June, the celebrations will be officially opened. At 16.30 European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek will inaugurate the Schengen Museum, which is concerned with the history of the agreement and the consequences for participating states. A large festival will then be held over the weekend of the 17-18 June.

On 21 December 2007, nine additional countries joined the Schengen area, followed by Switzerland which joined in December 2008. Now the Schengen area consists of 22 EU Member States – Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden – plus the three associated countries Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.