Denmark introduces controls at border

Just 12 hours after the Swedish move, Denmark itself stepped up border controls with Germany. “And this can create a situation in which we will need to introduce border controls toward Germany, if we decide that’s what’s best for Denmark”.

Passengers are having their IDs checked at the train station at Copenhagen International Airport, the last stop before crossing the Oresund Bridge into Sweden, in Kastrup, Denmark, Monday Jan. 4, 2016.

Those without valid ID will be refused entry.

The majority of travellers commute from Sweden into Denmark, so evening return journeys are expected to be the worst hit by the changes.

The European Union continues to struggle with its refugee crisis as evidenced by the uneven intake of asylum seekers, highlighted by two states in particular.

“It’s as if we are building a Berlin Wall here”.

“If they don t have photo ID then we say sorry, we can t let you on board”, DSB spokesman Tony Bispeskov said.

Germany, Denmark and Sweden all said that they wanted to safeguard the Schengen zone but that effective controls on Europe’s external borders, as well as other agreed measures, were necessary.

Sweden admitted some 160,000 asylum seekers past year, double the figure seen in 2014, according to the country’s Migration Agency.

Sweden, alongside Germany, is one of the main destinations sought out by migrants and refugees entering the EU.

In Sweden, the inflow has strained capacity to take care of the newcomers and authorities recently warned they would no longer be able to provide housing for everyone.

As the public mood shifted, the government began reversing its open-door policy.

The announcement of the upcoming emergency talks in Brussels called by EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos comes a day after Sweden introduced mass identity checks at its borders for the first time in 50 years.

The Oresund bridge, which spans the border between Denmark and Sweden.

In an interview with Germany’s “Bild” newspaper on Tuesday, Steinmeier spoke of the “danger” if Europeans lost their right to freedom of movement and travel after two countries reviewed their commitment to Europe’s Schengen borderless travel zone.

Danish Transport Minister Hans Christian Schmidt said the introduction of border checks was sad and “extremely annoying”, suggesting the Swedish government should pay for the checks – estimated to cost about $145,000 daily.

He told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the reason Sweden got overwhelmed last autumn was because Denmark functioned as a “transit country”.

Sweden is the latest European Union country to install stronger border controls in response to the refugee crisis. Brussels has since launched legal action against Italy, Greece and Croatia for failing to carry mandatory fingerprinting of asylum seekers and recording their data correctly.