Sweden Resorts to Temporary Border Controls Amid Refugee Crisis

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, in Malta to plead his countries case at talks between EU and African leaders, is keen to make other European countries understand that while migrants and refugees pass through most states, the majority are aiming to settle in Sweden and Germany.

Initially planned for 10 days, the controls may be extended for a maximum of six months and are concentrated on the Oresund bridge, which links Sweden with Denmark, and ferries from Denmark and Germany on the Baltic Sea.

EU law allows people to move freely without passports within the internal borders of the Schengen area, which comprises of 26 European countries, including Sweden.

Minister for Home Affairs, Anders Ygeman, said at a press conference that the decision had been taken in the face of the “extremely heavy pressure” faced by Swedish Migration Agency. Migration officials expect the country to absorb at least 170,000 asylum seekers by the end of the year, within a total population of 10 million.

Swedish police are urging people traveling to and from neighboring countries on Thursday to bring their passports or other identification documents as the country temporarily reintroduces border controls.

“Sweden is the country that has shouldered the greatest responsibility for the refugee crisis”.

Sweden now has the highest number of migrants per capita of any European Union country, as the bloc struggles to manage its biggest refugee emergency in decades.

The decision to start protecting Swedish borders follows opposition calls to limit the growing number of asylum seekers entering the country.

Domestically the refugee crisis is being linked to the new-found popularity of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats Party, the BBC reports.

What Sweden is really doing is telling refugees to stay elsewhere if they have a bed, or to come for asylum – but not use it as a transit spot.

Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek says: “the stabilization of the Balkans is necessary for the stability… of the whole of Europe”. European Union authorities are still reviewing that request.

The refugees are likely to continue arriving to Europe from Turkey during winter, at a rate of about 5,000 per day, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

Slovenia on Wednesday began erecting a razor-wire fence along its border with Croatia, and Finland said earlier in the week that it was no longer able to provide new arrivals with “as high-quality reception services as before”.

Announcing the measures for the Spielfeld crossing in conjunction with Slovenia, Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said a 25 kilometre stretch of fence could be up within 48 hours, if necessary.

Those are the routes most used by migrants.

Migrants and refugees switched to Slovenia as a gateway to Western Europe after Hungary sealed off its border with Croatia.