Danish PM Threatens Germany With Border Controls

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Danes that the government is weighing up the re-imposition of controls along the country’s border with Germany.

Denmark is considering the re-institution of border controls with Germany, following Sweden’s decision to reinstate checks at its border with Denmark in November, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in his New Year’s speech to Danes on Friday.

"Sweden is stepping up checks at its border with Denmark. It is happening very soon. For the first time since the 1950s one must now have an ID card to cross the Oresund (the Sound, the strait that separates the two countries)."

“It shows what is at stake, and it creates a situation where we must introduce border controls with Germany, if we decide that that is best for Denmark.”

“We don’t want to see migrants and asylum seekers on our highways again. We want to ensure calm and order,” said the Prime Minister.

@larsloekke Du nævnes i "Statsminister Lars Løkke Rasmussens nytårstale" https://t.co/D2k8Rs8CBB

— DKPolitik Citat (@DKPolitik_Citat) January 1, 2016

​‘Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's New Year Address 1 January 2016. Terror, refugees, integration and democracy were the main issues in the Prime Minister's speech,’ reported the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

As of January 4, the Swedish authorities will require all passengers traveling from Denmark by train, bus or ferry to show photo identification. In November Sweden began carrying out random checks of people entering southern Sweden, initially for ten days. 

According to the rules of the Schengen Area of free movement, a country is allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls between member states for ten days in case of “a serious threat to public policy or internal security.” The regulations state that after ten days, any prolongation of that period needs to be monitored at the EU level.

On December 21, the number of migrants and refugees that had crossed into Europe by land and sea in 2015 passed the one million mark, according to the International Organization for Migration, four times as many people as in 2014.

Denmark is estimated to have received around 20,000 asylum seekers in 2015, and registered around 15,000 in 2014. Sweden received more than 160,000 asylum applications in 2015, twice as many as in 2014, and the most per capita in the EU.