Danish border controls welcomed by Swedish government

Crossing the beautiful bridge between Sweden and Denmark will  be a nice experience even with border control also on the Danish side.

It appears that the unelected president of  the European Commission, José Barroso has made a serious mistake by accusing the Danish government of  reinstating "illegal" customs checks at the borders. The Danish government maintains that what it is planning to do is fully "in accordance with Schengen rules". And there is no reason to think otherwise.

EUOBSERVER / BERLIN - One day after Berlin's angry reaction, EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has warned Copenhagen that its decision to reinstate customs checks at the borders is illegal under EU rules. The Danish government maintains the contrary.
Denmark's envisaged customs checks, video surveillance and beefed up police presence "appear to put in question the smooth functioning of Europe's single market and the benefits that an integrated area without internal borders brings for both businesses and citizens," the commission president wrote to the Danish Prime Minister on Friday (13 May).

Read the entire piece here

The Swedish government has welcomed the Danish plan to strengtheen border controls:

Sweden's finance minister, Anders Borg, sees no immediate problems with Denmark's decision to increase border controls between the two countries.

“It is good that Denmark wants to take precautions to ensure we have no drug smuggling, cross-border criminal activity, human trafficking or similar carried out between Demark and Sweden,” said Borg to news agency TT.
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The Swedish border controls in the area are working well and are not too much of a hindrance to commuters, according to Borg.

Read the entire article here

PS
Anders Borg is right. Sweden has already for a long time had this type of border controls, and nobody has protested. I have myself several times beeen checked by courteous Swedish border police, without having any reason to complain. On the contrary, I have been pleased to see that the Swedes are doing their best in order to stop criminal activity.

Added on 18.5.2011: Danish minister´s comment: