THE EU Commission has questioned the legality of moves by Denmark to tighten its border controls, an initiative which adds to increasing strain on Europe’s visa-free travel system.
The centre-right coalition led by Lars Lokke Rasmussen unilaterally declared this week that it will re-establish controls on its frontiers with Germany and Sweden.
The manoeuvre has deepened a growing dispute over the erosion of the Schengen pact, under which most European border controls were eliminated in the 1990s.
In part this reflects mounting anxiety in Mediterranean EU countries over a threatened influx of migrants fleeing the turmoil in the Arab world.
However, it has also stoked debate over the influence of populist anti-immigration campaigners on public policy as many European leaders are under pressure from resurgent far-right parties.
In the Danish case, tighter border controls were the price of support from the far-right Danish Peoples’ Party for Mr Rasmussen’s campaign to overhaul the country’s pension system.
Losing ground to the opposition Social Democrats in advance of a general election due by mid-November, Mr Rasmussen believes the pension reforms are crucial to his re-election prospects.
Although commission chief José Manuel Barroso has endorsed the drive for the introduction of emergency border controls in the Schengen area, he has suggested to Mr Rasmussen that the Danish proposal goes too far.
The two men spoke by phone yesterday. Reading from a subsequent letter to Mr Rasmussen from Mr Barosso, the commission’s spokeswoman said the initiative raised “important doubts” as to whether it complied with Denmark’s obligations under international and European law.
“In so far as the measures announced would be implemented in a way that amounted to the introduction of systematic frontier control they would appear to be contrary to the Treaty freedoms (notably the free movement of goods, freedom to provide services),” the letter stated.
“In so far as the envisaged measures would raise obstacles to the crossing of internal borders and namely to fluid traffic flow at road crossing point, they would appear to be incompatible with Articles 20 and 22 of the Schengen borders code.”
Mr Barroso finished by saying the commission will take all necessary steps to ensure Denmark’s compliance with the relevant law.
While the spokeswoman declined to elaborate, it would open to the commission as guardian of the EU treaties to take legal action against the country if it found it was defying EU law.
However, Denmark’s diplomatic mission to the EU said the government believed the measures complied with the Schengen laws.
“We’re not talking about passport controls. There will be no police presence at the border. There will customs officials who will perform random checks for illegal substances such as drugs, as well as weapons, explosives and smuggled goods,” Denmark’s spokesman said.
At a meeting of EU interior ministers Brussels on Thursday, a majority of Schengen participants backed moves to revise key elements of the agreement.
Such efforts were recently mooted by the commission, which responded within days to Franco-Italian demands for an overhaul of the system.
They have prompted accusations from the European Parliament that populist moves are afoot to dismantle one of the greatest achievements of EU integration.
The dispute has its roots in tension between Italy and other member states, France particularly, over responsibility for 25,000 Tunisian migrants to who have arrived at the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa.
The Schengen System: Vital to operation of EU single market
THE SCHENGEN system encompasses huge swathes of continental Europe, allowing hundreds of millions of people to travel without passports or border controls since the mid-1990s.
Hailed as one the Europe’s biggest achievements, the system is crucial to the operation of the EU’s vast internal market.
The system offers convenience and significant economic benefit as the elimination of frontier checks accelerates transport greatly.
Ireland and Britain do not participate in the system, which has 25 members. But most EU member states do.
Non-EU countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland also take part.
Current moves to re-establish emergency border controls reflect fear of a huge influx of migrants due to the turmoil in the Arab world.
To a large extent, however, such fears have not yet been realised.
Whereas 25,000 Tunisian migrants recently arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, Germany received in excess of 300,000 refugees from the Balkan wars in the 1990s.
A further factor here is Europe’s resurgent extreme right, in which anti-immigrant rhetoric is de rigueur.
This has led to claims that European governments have set about dismantling Schengen by stealth as they adopt a “Fortress Europe” mentality.
The system was set in train in 1985 when an agreement was struck in the Luxembourg town of Schengen to abolish border checks.