Courtesy of Mish.
There are so many "temporary" border controls in the EU I have lost count. Fences, train checks, walls, payoffs to Turkey, pressure on Greece, are among the methods.
Today we can add another "temporary" measure to the list as Denmark Tightens Border Controls with Germany.
Denmark has imposed controls on its southern frontier with Germany in a move that is intended to stem the flow of migrants but will also deepen concerns about Europe’s fraying commitment to the free movement of people.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Danish prime minister, said the decision was prompted by Sweden’s move hours earlier to introduce identity checks for all passengers arriving by train, bus or ferry from Denmark.
“The new Swedish requirement for ID checks poses a serious risk of a large number of asylum seekers accumulating in a short time, for example in and around Copenhagen, threatening public order and safety. We do not want this,” he said at a hastily called press conference on Monday.
The Danish controls are temporary and will last for the next 10 days but can be extended. Distinct from the Swedish measures, they will involve random checks and will not automatically require all cars and passengers crossing from Germany to show their passports. Mr Rasmussen said Angela Merkel, German chancellor, and the European Commission had been notified.
Sweden was long regarded as Europe’s most generous country to asylum-seekers, offering permanent residence in recent years to Iraqis and then Syrians. But after a surge in the number of asylum seekers last year, Sweden’s centre-left government buckled under pressure from local authorities and the public to crack down on immigration.
The controls have stoked tensions between Sweden and Denmark, where the centre-right government and its centre-left predecessor have been critical of Stockholm’s generous immigration policies.
Hans Christian Schmidt, Denmark’s transport minister, said: “It is sad that Swedes have run a failed immigration policy which now means that they are forced to do this. It is sad and annoying for the whole region.”
The anti-immigration Danish People’s party that acts as the main support for Mr Rasmussen’s government in parliament, has long called for border controls and celebrated their arrival.
“A step in the right direction . . . Schengen has collapsed. The illusion of external borders has burst. Why does it take such a long time to recognise this?” Kristian Thulesen Dahl, the party’s leader, wrote on Facebook.
Cascade of Border Controls Grows
The Wall Street Journal reports Sweden and Denmark Step Up Border Controls in Bid to Slow Flow of Migrants …
