Detained in a camp in Prostějov....

The Prague Monitor reports this morning that a couple of Americans, aged 30 and 31, were deported from the Czech Republic yesterday for violating the terms of the Schengen Agreement.

The agreement, which Czech Republic became part of last December, stipulates that people in Europe's Schengen Area can travel freely without the hassles of border crossings.   It also provides for cross-border law-enforcement cooperation, and some minor changes in customs rules. All new members (post-1994) of the EU had to sign up to its implementation as part of their accession to the EU (All new members also must work to implement the €uro, but that's on a different timeline, and has completely different procedures).  It is probably a net benefit for Czechs, who can now travel to almost any country in Europe without a passport, but it makes it much more difficult for non-Europeans, like these two Americans.

I suppose I should say that they violated the law, and like any illegal immigrant, they should expect deportation. (Wouldn't it be interesting if we applied the rule of law in the US?) However, I know that one of the attractions of Czech Republic for Americans was the way that Czech Republic for so long managed to be an easygoing place for everyone "Wanted in America, or Unwanted in America."  Czech Republic used to be a place for where a life free of the bureaucratic hassles so common to government was easily avoided.

However, borders were set up to protect Czechs from other Europeans, not the Americans. As Czech Republic becomes more and more a part of the vaunted European Community, we can only hope that it does not lose its quirky Czech-ness.  The institutional weltanschauung of Official Europe is one of a relatively high level of skepticism about capitalism, a penchant for government intervention in the economy, and an enforced "Let's-Get-Along-As-Europeans" attitude. However, much of the Left in Europe worries that increased trade in Europe will allow businesses to move to the place most conducive to conduct business.  (This is particularly clear in France).  The Czechs who *like* capitalism, and see their future in it, have to be happy about the free-trade aspect of Europe, but skeptical about its statist inclinations, which will inevitably crush individual and national identity.

Of course, the first question of all politics should be "does this law make those subject to it more free, or less?" I believe that generally the Schengen Agreement makes it more free for Europeans. I only wish that my compatriots were in the same situation, and that the Czech national character could keep its border crossings up.