As Sweden and Denmark step up border controls to control the flow of refugees in Europe, Danish activists say they are ready to smuggle desperate people across the frontier.
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Denmark on Monday tightened controls at its border with Germany just hours after neighboring Sweden introduced similar measures to stem the flow of migrants.
In a letter to the European Commission, Inger Stojberg, Denmark’s integration minister, said the controls would focus initially on the border with Germany but may be extended to all of Denmark’s borders.
Sweden began checking documents of travellers from Denmark on Monday for the first time in half a century, causing delays of up to 50 minutes for trains and buses crossing the 4.9 mile (7.9 km) Oresund Bridge, Europe’s longest combined road and rail bridge.
Denmark and Sweden both joined the Schengen zone in 2001, which allows much of the EU and a handful of other European countries to operate as single country for global travel purposes, with the removal of internal borders and a common visa policy.
Seibert said that Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had informed Merkel of his decision before making the announcement.
“If the European Union can not protect the external border you will see more and more countries forced to introduce temporary border controls”.
More than one million migrants fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and beyond sought shelter in Europe in 2015 and many more are expected to come during 2016.
Danish officials have suggested Sweden should pay for the cost of the ID checks, carried out by train operators on the Danish side at an estimated daily cost of 1 million kroner ($145,000).
Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth said Germany would carefully watch the Danish border controls to evaluate “whether and how this affects migration northward from Germany”.
“We have to be prepared for the fact that people may seek other routes than the (Oresund) bridge or ferries, regardless of whether it is a Danish network behind this or individual initiatives”, coast guard spokesman Mattias Lindholm told news agency TT.
Danish employers fear fewer Swedes will want to cross the bridge to work in Denmark as a result of the new rules.
“I think we all agree that the necessary measures that we have had to introduce should not be put in place longer than we need”, Johansson said. Neighboring Denmark only took in 18,000. The system has already been teetering in recent months as even its staunchest supporters such as Germany have erected temporary controls.
Erwin Sellering, the premier of Germany’s northern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, also expressed his concern about Denmark’s reintroduction of passport controls at the German border, calling for an EU-wide response.
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Three centres for screening of migrants in Italy and Greece, known as hotspots, are operational, below the target of 11, though Italy is due to add two more early this year, it added.
