Denmark tightens border controls

The Telegraph ^ | 7/5/2011 | Matthew Day

[bruinbirdman]

Denmark has tightened its border controls in a move which opponents claim could sound the death knell for the EU’s principle of free movement.

The Scandinavian country deployed an extra 50 customs officers at crossings on the German and Swedish borders in an attempt to curb cross-border crime and illegal immigration.

Danish custom officers check a unindentified driver from the Netherlands at the
Danish-German border in Padborg, Denmark

This figure will rise to 98 by the end of the year.

Denmark, which belongs to the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone, also plans to increase video surveillance at crossings and build four new customs houses.

Denmark’s decision to become the first country to break ranks with its Schengen peers has sparked concern for the future of unrestricted travel between EU countries.

The principle of open borders is already threatened by political pressures created by the influx of refugees fleeing the turmoil in North Africa.

Cecilia Malmstrom, European commissioner for internal affairs, warned of repercussions for Denmark if it was found to break Schengen regulations.

“If the Danish government proceeds with a proposal in breach of EU law, we stand ready to take the necessary measures to protect the European values of free movement,” she wrote in her blog.

Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister, criticised the Danish move, saying it endangered EU co-operation and solidarity, while Jorg-Uwe Hahn, Europe minister for the German state of Hesse, called for Germans to boycott holidaying in Denmark by “voting with their feet” to punish the Scandinavian country.

Heightening European fears that Denmark’s decision may lead to the unravelling of the Schengen zone France’s National Front immediately seized on the Danish initiative with its latest campaign poster stating “Denmark patrols its borders ... why don’t we?”

But Denmark defended its decision,

[pepsionice]

Here’s the thing...add up the numbers. Just fifty customs guys? Figure up a twenty-four hour schedule over seven days and they always working in pairs...and you come to a comical conclusion that barely three hundred cars a day (out of 50k crossing) will be examined. Even if they almost double their manpower...they basically will not check more than one percent of the cars crossing. In the end, a whole lot of hot air, over nothing.

[TwoSwords]

I wouldn’t want to be a muzzie or a Jew in Europe. Things are going to change exponentially.

[Trod Upon]

Could it not be a trial balloon? I think latent nationalism is going to reawaken in many nations across Europe. Hordes of of unassimilable, ethnically nationalist immigrants swarming all over your country have a way of jarring you back to reality.

[calex59]

Here’s the thing, unrestricted travel sounds good, nice and free for everyone and it would be if everyone had good thoughts about all countries. Unfortunately that is not the case and unrestricted travel merely aids terrorist and other bad people in their travels to destroy certain societies.

[Republic_of_Secession.]

Though they will no doubt be labeled with unflattering pejoratives [ like right wing / bigot / racist etc. ] in the hope of discrediting the move to control the border.

[Cronos]

There are next to no Jews left in Europe since the Nutzis. Muzzies are the problem that Jews never were