Unyielding Resilience of the Schengen Area: Adapting to Crises in a Transforming World

Abstract The Schengen area has recently experienced many crises. Despite occasional references to its potential end, it has proven its resilience. Whilst researchers explore Schengen's borders and databases, few studies have focused on the discourse on Schengen per se. This article fills this gap by examining discursive shifts in the perception of Schengen's resilience during recent crises, especially since 2015 (refugee crisis, COVID‐19, Russian invasion of Ukraine). Employing the theoretical concept of crisis and the methodological framework of the discourse‐historical approach and conceptual history, this analysis interprets how the European Union (EU) institutions and their representatives managed to adapt to these recent crises, which initiatives they adopted and how they discursively constructed Schengen's resilience. The findings show that although the conceptualisation of Schengen vis‐á‐vis the selected crises has shifted from ‘saving Schengen by applying Schengen’ to ‘saving Schengen by amending Schengen’, gradual amendments towards more EU authority ( vertical deepening ) and more member states' control ( horizontal broadening ) continue.