Denmark restores passport checks on German border

2016 is getting off to a rough start for the EU with a domino effect of border controls being re-introduced between Scandanavia and northern Europe.

Sweden has already resumed border controls withDenmark abandoned in the 1950s. On Monday Denmark said it would do the same with Germany as it struggles to control the flood of asylum seekers heading north.

“If the European Union can’t protect the external borders, you will see more and more countries which will be forced into introducing temporary internal border control. This is something we need to take very seriously, because it will have a negative impact on prosperity. I’m a true believer of the freedom of movement. This is not a happy moment at all,” said Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen.

Sweden has already expressed regret at its decision and noted it was certainly “bad for Europe”, but said it had no other choice. Some 190,000 refugees are believed to have
made it to Sweden in 2015.

The German foreign ministry was quick to respond to Copenhagen’s move, saying Denmark’s re-imposition of controls was against the spirit of free circulation and put the Schengen open borders agreement in danger.

However both Sweden and Denmark are acting within Schengen’s provisions, which allow for the re-introduction of border controls in “exceptional” circumstances.

In September Germany did just that on its Austrian border.

Response:

This article discusses the possible snow ball effect that Denmark and Sweden may have on European countries installing border control. Due to the Schengen agreement, the passport checks may cause distrust between the EU countries. The author efficiently discussed Germany's response to the routine checks placed between their country and Denmark. The response conveyed a broken trust or bond with the two countries. Denmark places blame on the refugee issue as the copious amount of refugees may endanger the prosperity of the country. However, Germany took it as a clear and obvious separation between the two countries which is a change form the 'free circulation.' The article resourcefully mentions that countries instating border control within the EU nations have every right to do so. However, there may be some bias in this article due to the placement of certain facts. Early on in the article, it mentions that Sweden placed border restrictions with Denmark. Then it continues to say that Denmark followed Sweden's actions to limit movement with Germany. Finally, the article ends with the fact that Germany put border control with Austria. It makes the order of events look as if these actions first started at the top of Europe (Scandavia) then spread downwards to Europe. This subtly gives the impression that border control is going to spread all over Europe like wild-fire. However, the article does not give the dates on when these events took place. Additionally, it only specified the month when Germany limited Austria in the last sentence, which made it seem like it happened later than the other events. 

Citation:
Hackwill, Robert. "Denmark Restores Passport Checks on German Border."Euronews. Euronews 2016, 4 Jan. 2016. Web. 4 Jan. 2016.