© Adobe Stock, 2025
On 4 June 2025, 23 students from the German Luxembourgish Schengen high school (Deutsch-Luxemburgisches Schengen-Lyzeum) in Perl, Germany, aged 16 to 18, had the opportunity to explore the interactive learning tool “Destination Europe”.
The school’s student population comes from Luxembourg, France, and Germany. This diversity reflects the spirit of Schengen, with classes composed in a way that transcends national borders and brings together students from across the Greater Region regardless of their nationality, mother tongue, or residence.
The learning tool allowed the students to gain a deeper understanding of migration policies by taking on the roles of decision-makers in a role-playing context. Students appreciated this format because it allowed them to consider different perspectives—that of the migrants and that of the European and national decision makers.
Discussion on internal border controls
The session concluded with a lively and thought-provoking discussion, focusing primarily on the internal border controls reintroduced by Germany. As residents of the Greater Region, most students are directly affected by the controls, which they considered to be unnecessary and a major hindrance to cross-border mobility.
As border checks are only carried out at selected locations, students doubted that people with malicious intents would be prevented from crossing the border. Some students mentioned that they used to cross borders regularly for shopping or other activites, a practice that has been significantly reduced since border checks were reintroduced. Additionally, they expressed concerns regarding profiling at the border.
Finally, students discussed the legitimacy of the border controls and wanted to know more about the legal basis for the reintroduced checks within the Schengen area.
New workshop on migration policy
EMN Luxembourg and the Liaison Office of the European Parliament in Luxembourg invite school classes to the interactive workshop: “On the way to Europe”.
1. Part: Destination Europe session
2. Part: Discussion with two Luxembourgish members of the European parliament