Is the Vatican a Schengen country?
The Vatican is not a Schengen country. The Schengen area is an agreement between European countries that enables free movement without passport checks within the area. The Schengen area includes 27 European countries, but the Vatican is not one of them. This article discusses in more detail what the Schengen area means, which countries belong to it, and why the Vatican is not part of this area.
What is the Schengen area?
The Schengen area is named after the Schengen Agreement, which was signed in 1985 in the village of Schengen in Luxembourg. The purpose of the agreement is to remove border checks between member countries and enable free movement within the region. The countries belonging to the Schengen area are committed to common rules and practices concerning, among other things, visas, asylum policy and border control.
Which countries belong to the Schengen area?
The Schengen area currently includes 27 countries. These include:
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Spain
- Italy
- Austria
- Greece
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Norway
- Portugal
- Poland
- France
- Sweden
- Germany
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Finland
- Switzerland
- Denmark
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Estonia
Furthermore, Iceland and Liechtenstein are part of the Schengen area, although they are not EU member states.
Why is the Vatican not a Schengen country?
The Vatican is the smallest independent state in the world, located inside the city of Rome in Italy. Although the Vatican is not a Schengen country, it has a special status. The Vatican has an agreement with Italy that enables practically free movement between Italy and the Vatican. This means that the Vatican can be accessed without separate border checks when arriving from Italy.
The special status of the Vatican is due to its unique role as the center of the Catholic Church and its small size. The Vatican has not considered it necessary to join the Schengen area because its borders are already well controlled and its traffic is low compared to other countries.
Summary
Although the Vatican is not a Schengen country, it has a special status that allows free movement with Italy. The Schengen area includes 27 European countries that have committed to common rules and practices to eliminate border checks. The Vatican’s small size and its special role as the center of the Catholic Church are the reasons why it has not joined the Schengen area.
You can read more information about the Schengen area and the countries that belong to it, for example from the website of the European Commission.
