pic: thelocal.dk
Going from Sweden to Denmark? Bring some good ID, because new border controls are on the way. In response to an uptick in explosions in the Copenhagen area (13 this year, according to DN today), the Danish government will be instituting random ID checks on train, ferry and car crossing points starting November 12th.
This is only one measure in a packet of measures to combat crime that were announced in Denmark today. Although the Danes are not saying that Sweden is the source of their crime wave, they were certainly not pleased that at least two serious crimes were committed by Swedes criminals in Denmark recently (see this post).
Swedish police have been checking the IDs of travelers from Denmark to Sweden since 2015, in the beginning because of immigration issues with non-Danes, not Danish criminality. The border controls have since been justified as a way of averting terror attacks. Minister for Home Affairs Mikael Damberg said he welcomed Danish efforts to fight crime in the Öresund region, and took the opportunity to mention that, by the by, house break-ins went down in south Sweden after Sweden instituted its border controls (SvD.se/Damberg). (They did?)
Among other things, the new Danish measures will allow more cameras, will allow digital recognition of license plates, and make an attack on an official building also an attack on the Danish state. Also the punishment for possession of explosive material will be more severe.
Damberg, being part of the more right-wing flank of the Social Democratic party, might just be looking a little more green than red when looking at the Danish measures. Similar (if less strong) crime-fighting ideas for Sweden were dashed when the multi-party talks failed in mid September (see posts here and here).
Having border controls between two EU countries goes against EU rules, and exceptions like the Swedish-Danish border must be approved and be temporary. The current Swedish border controls expire on November 11th – (coincidentally?) the day before Denmark’s are supposed to kick in. Sweden has had border controls for Denmark and Germany in place for four years, but it’s getting harder to keep justifying them, even for terror reasons. Government coalition partner the Green party is opposed to the border controls.
Still, Sweden and Denmark are hardly alone in re-constructing borders within the previously border-less EU. According to a roundup by DN here, France has a 4 meter high fence in Calais to prevent migrants gaining access to the Channel Tunnel. There are also fences of various construction along Hungary’s southern border, between Austria and Slovenia, between Slovenia and Croatia and between North Macedonia and Greece.
More than ever, Sweden’s own Ylva Johansson, the likely EU Home Affairs Commissioner, will have her work cut out for her on the issue of migration.