The Danish authorities have decided to extend the existing controls at the borders with other Schengen Area countries for another six months. The same was extended on November 12, 2021, and was set to expire on May 2022.
The checks at the borders that Denmark shares with the other Schengen countries were first introduced in 2016 in a bid of the government to enhance security amid terrorist threats and organized criminality threats.
Now, the Danish Minister of Justice Nick Hækkerup (SOC) has announced the border controls will be extended until November 2022, again, due to concerns regarding threats posed by organized crime in Sweden.
“Against this background and after careful consideration, the Danish government considers that the temporary internal border control is a necessary and effective means to counter these threats,” the Minister wrote in a letter sent to the EU Commission, which is part of the procedures to extend border controls.
The Minister also noted that other alternative methods would not achieve the same effect as border controls.
It’s been more than five years that Denmark has continuously, every six months, extended the border controls.
The Schengen Borders Code (SBS) permits the Member States to reintroduce the measure to minimize threats to public policy or internal security. However, it strongly emphasizes that the reintroduction of travel border control must be the last alternative to be applied.
Aside from Denmark, six other Schengen countries have effective border controls in place, as follows:
- France (effective until April 30, 2022) – internal controls have been introduced at all internal borders in the context of the COVID-19 situation and a continuous terrorist threat and secondary movements.
- Estonia (from April 2 to April 21 April 2022) – internal controls have been introduced at the border with Latvia due to secondary movements to facilitate the entry and reception of people from Ukraine.
- Norway (effective until May 11, 2022) – internal controls have been introduced at all ports with ferry connections to Denmark, Germany and Sweden due to terrorist threats, secondary movements;
- Austria (effective until May 11, 2022) – internal controls have been introduced at land borders with Hungary and Slovenia due to secondary movements, risk related to terrorists and organized crime, and the situation at the external borders.
- Germany (effective until May 11, 2022) – internal controls have been introduced at land borders with Austria due to secondary movements, the situation at the external borders.
- Sweden (effective until May 11, 2022) – internal controls have been introduced at all internal borders due to terrorist threats and shortcomings at the external borders.
