Refugee crisisDenmark extends checks along Danish-German border

Published 3 May 2016

Denmark has extended until 2 June the checks along its border with Germany. The government described the extension as meant to have a “preventive effect.” Danish police on 4 January started to do spot checks at some of the country’s fifteen border crossings with Germany. The measure was supposed to be temporary, but has been extended five times now. The Danish decision followed the decision by Sweden to begin requiring rail, bus, and ferry companies to verify the identities of people travelling from Denmark.

Denmark has extended until 2 June the checks along its border with Germany. The government described the extension as meant to have a “preventive effect.”

The Local reports that Danish police on 4 January started to do spot checks at some of the country’s fifteen border crossings with Germany. The measure was supposed to be temporary, but has been extended five times now.

The Danish decision followed the decision by Sweden to begin requiring rail, bus, and ferry companies to verify the identities of people travelling from Denmark. Until the Swedish decision, Denmark largely served as a transit route for refugees going from Germany to Sweden, but the Danish government became concerned that the Swedish decision would lead the thousands of refugees remaining in Denmark. The decision to introduce border checks along the German border was meant to prevent refugees from entering Denmark unless they could be guaranteed an entry into Sweden.

Denmark said it deploy 125 members of the Home Guard to help with the spot checks, a measure aimed at easing pressure on police.

Danish Minister for Immigration, Integration and Housing Inger Stojberg said Monday that there was no sign of a build-up of illegal immigrants in the country, but added that the number of asylum seekers in Europe was “historically high.”

When asylum seekers without proper ID papers cannot travel to Sweden, there remains a serious risk that many refugees and migrants can become stranded in this country,” Stojberg added.

The minister added in a letter to the European Commission that, according to the EU’s border agency Frontex, there was still “ongoing pressure on Europe’s external borders.”

Denmark estimates that 630,000 people were subjected to spot checks along the German, Danish border between 4 January and 24 April, with 1,133 being denied entry from Germany and 136 charged with suspected people trafficking.

The Local notes that Denmark registered almost 3,300 asylum applications between 4 January and 24 April this year after receiving over 21,000 asylum applications in 2015, a 44 percent jump from the 2014 number.

Denmark still receives fewer applications than Sweden, which has 163,000 registered asylum applications.