Publication

The little towns of Schengen and Prüm lie only around a hundred kilometres away from each other. From an enlarged European angle, this distance is close to nothing. The geographical proximity might be the reason why some are inclined to see the Prüm Treaty of 2005 as just another positive step in the right direction, towards closer European cooperation of police and judicial authorities in insecure times. This treaty however bears a fundamental flaw: that of restricted intergovernmentalism, which smacks of disloyalty within an integrated EU policy by a small group of influential member states.