1 Chronic anxiety: Schengen and the fear of enlargement Ruben Zaiotti Dalhousie University (in Laursen, Finn (ed.), The EU and the Eurozone Crisis: Policy Challenges and Strategic Choices, Ashgate, Forthcoming, 2013) Abstract The ongoing dispute over the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen has created tensions among existing and prospective members of Europe’s free border regime and raised doubts about possible future expansions. In this paper I contend that the Schengen regime, despite some ominous signs, is likely to maintain a pragmatic and generally open policy towards countries that wish to join in. To support this argument, this chapter reconstructs the evolution of Schengen’s past enlargement negotiations, showing how t heir content, dynamics and key protagonists bear striking similarities with the recent tensions over Romania and Bulgaria. From an institutional perspective, previous expressions of ‘enlargement anxiety’ represent cyclical adjustment mechanisms that have helped the regime withstand new challenges and consolidate its presence in Europe. The correspondences with past events suggest that the latest dispute is leading Schengen towards a similar institutional path. Introduction Europe is currently in a state of turmoil. The financial crisis that has gripped the continent since 2008, and the political fallout it has provoked – most notably, the growing nervousness and inward looking attitudes of European citizens and policy-makers worried about their future – is threatening the very foundations of the European integration project and challenging the authority of the institution upholding this project, namely the European Union (EU). This is especially the case for