Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU to hold emergency Schengen talks

  • Swedish police is now checking ID of train passengers arriving from Denmark. Here at Hyllie station near Malmoe. (Photo: EUobserver)

The European Commission is holding an emergency meeting on Wednesday (6 January) following the snap introduction of border control checks in northern Europe.

EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos convened the talks after Sweden introduced ID checks with Denmark, followed by a similar move by the Danes, who began border controls with Germany.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"The idea of the meeting is to improve the coordination of the countries in question in order to ensure better administration of migratory flows", said EU commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas.

Sweden has taken in more asylum seekers per capita than any other EU state. In a bid to stem the flow, it imposed identity checks earlier this week on anyone entering the country from Denmark.

Swedish police in Skaane say fewer migrants have crossed since the measure was imposed, reports AFP.

On Monday, the day the ID checks were launched, they registered 48 arriving migrants compared to the around 200 daily arrivals averaged up until 29 December.

"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.

Local aid organisations and NGOs are warning the controls will create new business opportunities for smuggling gangs and endanger people's lives.

The ID checks also ends more than 60 years of travel free restrictions between the two EU states, causing delays and headaches for thousands of commuters crossing the Oresund bridge.

Denmark, in response, then introduced a ten-day temporary border control with Germany to stem the flow of refugees heading to Sweden.

EU border law allows for such measures but only if there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security.

The commission's preliminary assessment suggests the clampdowns appear to be covered by the rules, although when pressed, it was unable to specify how refugees entering Denmark pose a serious threat to public policy or internal security.

A commission spokesperson instead noted the legal provisions behind the Danish and Swedish decisions will be discussed at the meeting and further assessed.

"Member states must respect EU law when they perform such controls and we are currently examining the legal provisions of Sweden", said a commission spokesperson.

Denmark's immigration minister Inger Stoejberg, Germany's interior ministry official Ole Schroeder, and Sweden's migration minister Morgan Johansson, will attend the meeting.

The broader EU response to the migration and refugee crisis has been bogged down by administrative delays and political infighting between member states.

Earlier this week, the European Commission announced that only around 0.17 percent of asylum seekers arriving in Greece and Italy have been resettled so far in other EU states.

The scheme requires EU states to resettle 160,000 arrivals over a two-year period.

Launched four months ago, it noted that only 272 Syrians and Eritreans have been transferred.

“It really shows a failure of all states to properly commit themselves to this from the start", Steve Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights programme director, told the Guardian newspaper.

Domino effect: Denmark follows Sweden on EU border checks

“May I see your ID?” - five little words on a train platform in Copenhagen on Monday mark the end of 60 years of Nordic free travel, as first Sweden, then Denmark impose new border checks amid the refugee crisis.

Sweden keen to slow Europe's 'refugee highway'

German, Swedish, and Danish ministers have vowed to maintain the EU's passport-free Schengen zone amid broader moves to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers.

Magazine

Losing Schengen would hurt EU businesses

Systematic border controls would cost €53 to €130 for every European citizen, according to estimates, but the transport industry is already feeling the pain of border checks within the EU.

Investigation

How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

Psychotropic drug abuse is one of the many dangers migrants face along the Balkan route. In overcrowded camps, doctors prescribe tranquilisers to calm people down. And black market circuits and pharmacies selling drugs without prescription contribute to the issue.

Investigation

How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route

Psychotropic drug abuse is one of the many dangers migrants face along the Balkan route. In overcrowded camps, doctors prescribe tranquilisers to calm people down. And black market circuits and pharmacies selling drugs without prescription contribute to the issue.

Analysis

Election in sight, EU mood music changes on offshoring asylum

Designating a country like Rwanda as 'safe' under EU rules to send an asylum-seeker there requires strict conditions to be met first. But a backdoor clause introduced into EU legislation allows a future commission to strip out those requirements.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us