Brussels, 05/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 5 July, Denmark began putting permanent customs control measures into effect at its borders with Sweden and Germany, deploying an additional 50 customs officers, as the Danish government explains, for combating arms trafficking and illegal immigration. The Danish parliament had given its go-ahead to funding of the project on Friday 1st July.
These highly controversial measures had aroused criticism from Berlin and been the subject of a letter from Commission President José Manuel Barroso, on 13 May, whereby he calls on Copenhagen to ensure compliance with European regulations on Schengen acquis, the free movement of persons and the free movement of goods. The Commission and the Danish government are still corresponding to clarify these customs controls. At this stage, as Commissioner Ceclia Malmström's spokesperson, Michele Cercone, reiterated on Tuesday, the Commission is still assessing the content of Denmark's responses and has specified that, for now, Copenhagen is carrying out “random” customs checks based on risk analysis. The Commission also said that it was keeping a close eye on implementation of these measures and expected Copenhagen to do everything possible to remain within the Schengen criteria.
In Strasbourg on Tuesday morning, the leaders of the two main political groups, the EPP and the S&D, criticised the Danish approach, with Joseph Daul's ironical comment that it would be appropriate to give visas to the Danes so that they feel safe when travelling in the EU. Martin Schulz (S&D, Germany) said the re-establishment of these controls is, at any rate, not compatible with Schengen. He also denounced the “unilateral decision” to impose checks. The matter is to be brought up again in Strasbourg on Wednesday 6 July when MEPs are to debate more widely the development of governance in the area of free movement. (S.P./E.H./transl.jl)