Denmark tighten border control

  • 05/01/2016
Danish Police officers check vehicles at the bordertown of Krusa (Reuters)
Danish Police officers check vehicles at the bordertown of Krusa (Reuters)

Just hours after Sweden tightened border controls with Germany, Denmark have imposed similar measures to deter migrants from entering the country.

The BBC is reporting Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said the decision was "not a happy moment" but Denmark "must respond" to Sweden's restrictions.

The decision is said to have been made as Denmark faces a “serious risk to public order and internal security because a very large number of illegal immigrants may be stranded in the Copenhagen area", Inger Stojberg, Denmark's integration minister, said in In a letter to the European Commission.

Sweden and Denmark are the latest countries to impose controls in Europe's Schengen passport-free travel area - The Schengen Agreement abolished the EU's internal borders, enabling passport-free movement across most of the bloc.

Spot border checks will be carried out by Danish police over the next 10 days.

The new controls would not cause a problem for "ordinary" Danes and Germans, Mr Rasmussen said, the BBC report.

This means all travellers wanting to cross the Oresund bridge from Denmark will be refused entry without the necessary documents.

Germany introduced border controls of its own on the Austrian frontier in September, and last week Norway, which is not an EU member but belongs to the Schengen area, said refugees coming from other Schengen countries without visas would be turned back, the BBC report.

A similar set of border closures in eastern Europe iin October left thousands of migrants stranded in poor weather conditions.

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