Originally Posted by
orbitmic
What I said is that "Schengen is one of the most safely controlled areas in the world", and I'm not really sure what part you are disagreeing with?
To answer cws's question on location, the 'Bangeman wave' was actually agreed in Madrid in 1992, specifically as a compromise between the EU Commissioner and the Kenneth Clarke.
The new regulation is part of the anti-terror legislation agreed by the Schengen area member states and it started applying in early April. It imposes the comparison of id data with the Schengen database for every passenger, which, in practice, has made scans both longer and harder to waive, but note that even before that, 'passport waving' had been the exception rather than the rule for years and in many countries would even be extremely rare as the 'Bangaman wave' principle itself was in fact abandoned a long time ago.
Basically I do not agree with the main point, I don't think the Schengen Area was one of the most safely controlled areas.
For me, 'passport waving' have been the norm and not the exception. I can't remember a single time in the last five years that my passport has been scanned in MAD (and I count more than 30 flights). Most of the time, quick look at the passport / ID card. Sometimes, just showing the cover of the passport. And in the bad days, Ryanair just dump the flight
by mistake in the Schengen Area of T1 and off you go.
And around Europe the situation was not better. Yes, Germans most of the times scanned the passport, but not always, and same in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland etc