Borders define territories within which identities and order are described and delineated. The triptych of indentities, borders and orders is central to understanding the nature of sovereignty and the relations between countries. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the European Union. The changing definition and placement of the border is one of the most striking features of the recent transformations of the Union. The definition of what a border is and where it is for persons has moved out of the territory of national sovereignty and has become the preserve in law of the European Community. The enlargement of the European Union towards the countries of Central and Eastern Europe has created new challenges for the concept of borders in the EU. This volume examines the extent of the Community power and the legal meaning of the EU's borders, as well as the ways to control (or not) the movement of persons across borders. It considers the legal texts - EC law on visas, the Regulations on visas, the meaning of borders for persons in Community Law, the Schengen" acquis and its incorporation into the EC Treaty(and where appropriate the TEU); national practice and its transformation with the insertion of the private sector's responsibility for the control of borders and judicial control. The point of departure is the perspective of the individual who is seeking to cross these borders.

Kees Groenendijk is Professor of Sociology of Law at the University of Nijmegen and Director of its Centre for Migration Law. He is chairman of the Standing Committee of Experts on international immigration, refugee and criminal law (Meijers Committee).
Elspeth Guild is Professor of European Immigration Law at the University of Nijmegen and a partner at the London law firm Kingsley Napley. She is co-editor of the European Journal of Migration and Law and the Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy in Europe Book Series.
Paul Minderhoud is a senior researcher at the Centre for Migration Law of the University of Nijmegen. He is co-editor of the European Journal of Migration and Law.