Denmark and Sweden tightened border checks on Monday to stem the flow of migrants coming in from Germany, dealing fresh blows to the vision of a Europe without national boundaries. Greece’s coast guard have been rescued hundreds people since the start of the new year in various incidents on the Aeagan Sea as migrants and refugees keep trying to enter the European Union despite the cold and rough seas.
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A security staff checks the ID of a passenger at the train station Copenhagen International Airport in Kastrup to prevent illegal migrants entering Sweden on Monday Jan. 4, 2016. “There were naturally some inconveniences for travellers both at the Danish-German border as a result of the temporary border controls and at the Danish-Swedish border as a result of the transport companies’ ID controls”, Inspector Richard Østerland la Cour said in a press release.
Officials at Danish train operator DSB confirmed they had seen a handful of people turned away, but would not specify if they were migrants or just commuters lacking proper ID.
It is also one of the main routes for people seeking refuge in Sweden as they flee conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and elsewhere.
This means all travellers wanting to cross the Oresund bridge from Denmark will be refused entry without the necessary documents.
In Germany, the destination of choice for many refugees, numbers have dipped to roughly 3,000 asylum seekers a day, according to Germany’s Federal Police; even fewer are making their way north to Denmark and Sweden.
Germany re-introduced controls at its Austrian border at the height of the 2015 refugee migration; Austria and France have also imposed controls.
At first glance, the measure seems to be in compliance with the rules of the Schengen Code of free movement, but we follow the situation closely. “We are going several steps back in time”, said Michael Randropp, a spokesman for the local Kystbanen commuters’ association.
Swedish Infrastructure Minister Anna Johansson said the new rules would be changed if there was a dramatic fall in the number of asylum seekers.
Rasmussen said the Danish border controls would last for 10 days but could be extended.
The Swedish border controls will be imposed on the Öresund Bridge, which connects Sweden and Denmark.
Rasmussen warned that Sweden’s controls could have a domino effect on Denmark, which received just 21,000 asylum requests in 2015, compared to Sweden’s 163,000.
An inflatable dinghy discovered in early December on the shores of the southern town of Skillinge raised suspicions of such a crossing, but border police said it was “very unlikely” the boat had been used to such ends.
His state is the only one in Germany that has a land border with Denmark and one of two from which ferries set off for Scandinavia.
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More than 190,000 migrants crossed the German-Danish border a year ago. Its right-leaning government said the draft law would create one of Europe’s toughest immigration systems, making it more hard to claim welfare benefits, and only allowing family reunifications after four years of work or education in the country.
