03-01-2016, 04:28 PM
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After 1 million migrants, Europe's borders are back
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/1-million-...130327130.htmlSTOCKHOLM (AP) — Since it opened in 2000, the Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark has been a towering symbol of European integration and hassle-free travel across borders that people didn't even notice were there.
On Monday new travel restrictions imposed by Sweden to stem a record flow of migrants are transforming the bridge into a striking example of how national boundaries are re-emerging. A year of clampdowns on migration and terrorism has all but killed the idea of a borderless Europe where you could drive or train-hop from Spain in the south to Norway in the north without ever having to show your passport.
"We're turning back the clock," said Andreas Onnerfors, who lives in Lund, on the Swedish side of the bridge. An associate professor in intellectual history, he said he's benefited from the free flow of people and ideas across the bridge — he's studied on both sides and taught students from both Sweden and Denmark.
"We're going back to a time when the bridge didn't exist," he said, referring to the ID checkpoints being set up Monday on the Danish side for train passengers wishing to cross over to Sweden.
The move is meant to stop undocumented migrants from reaching Sweden, which abruptly reversed its open-door policy after receiving more than 160,000 asylum-seekers last year, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
It follows the reintroduction of border checks in Germany, Austria, France, Belgium and other countries in what's supposed to be a passport-free travel zone spanning 26 nations.
The moves are supposedly temporary, but are likely to be extended if Europe's migrant crisis continues in 2016.
"It's basically every country for itself now," said Mark Rhinard, an expert on the European Union at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
Citing exceptional national circumstances related to security, terrorism and public order, several European countries have suspended EU rules that required them to keep their borders open to each other.
It's a significant development that strikes at the very heart of the EU project — the free movement of goods and people across borders.
The Bruegel think tank in Brussels says that in 2014 there were almost 1.7 million cross-border commuters in the passport-free zone known as the Schengen Area, after the Luxembourg town where it was created in 1985. Abolishing it would affect their daily lives, but the consequences for Europe would go deeper, given the "visible and powerful symbol of European integration that Schengen represents," Bruegel researchers Nuria Boot and Guntram Wolff wrote in December.
Whether the temporary reintroduction of borders also means rebuilding mental boundaries between EU citizens remains to be seen. But the migrant crisis is becoming an even bigger challenge to European unity than the cracks emerging in recent years over the bloc's common currency, the euro.
EU nations demonstrated starkly different views on how to deal with the 1 million migrants that crossed the Mediterranean in 2015. Germany and Sweden, until recently, said refugees were welcome, while Hungary built a fence to keep them out. The Danish government took a series of measures to discourage migrants from going there, including a proposal to seize their jewelry to cover their expenses in Denmark.
Common rules requiring refugees to seek shelter in the first EU country they enter collapsed, as Greece and Italy were overwhelmed by sea arrivals and countries further north just waved the migrants through to their intended destination, often Germany or the Scandinavian countries.
Meanwhile the EU's efforts to spread refugees more evenly across the bloc met stiff resistance from member states. By November only about 150 of 160,000 refugees had been relocated from Greece and Italy under an EU plan.
The crisis underlines structural flaws in the EU, showing how it has implemented common rules that it just can't enforce once the external pressures become too great, said Karl Lallerstedt, co-founder of Black Market Watch, a Switzerland-based non-profit group focusing on cross-border smuggling.
"It's not a strong federal state that can overrule its members," he said. "At the same time individual states have obligations to the EU. So you're in this sort of half-way house."
03-01-2016, 06:55 PM
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Re: After 1 million migrants, Europe's borders are back
Originally Posted by clumsy
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https://uk.news.yahoo.com/1-million-...130327130.htmlSince it opened in 2000, the Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark has been a towering symbol of European integration and hassle-free travel across borders that people didn't even notice were there.
Ps. "Lund" IS NOT "on the Swedish side of the bridge"! Idiots.
03-01-2016, 07:42 PM
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Re: After 1 million migrants, Europe's borders are back
Originally Posted by Judd
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Not before time. 
04-01-2016, 06:00 PM
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Re: After 1 million migrants, Europe's borders are back
Just a follow up article to the one above.http://europe.newsweek.com/sweden-in...m_medium=email
Sweden has implemented identity checks on those arriving from neighboring Denmark in the hope of lessening the number of refugees arriving and claiming asylum. The two countries are linked by the Oresund bridge, which visitors can cross using train, bus and ferry services. From midnight on Sunday, those attempting to pass without the relevant documents were refused entry.
Every day, thousands cross the bridge as they commute to work either in Denmark or Sweden. The bridge links the Danish capital of Copenhagen with the Swedish cities of Malmo and Lund. Now, those attempting to cross by train will be asked to change at Copenhagen Airport and pass through checkpoints there, the BBC reports.
This end to the direct train crossing into Sweden is expected to nearly double people’s 40-minute commute by adding on an extra half hour. Rail operators have already warned of significant delays. Some have begun reducing services: Sweden’s state-owned operator SJ said last month that it would have to stop trains to Denmark as it didn’t have the capability to carry out the identity checks the new law required. Transport companies face fines if travelers lack valid photo ID.
To implement these new border controls, the Swedish government has secured a non-permanent exemption from the Schengen agreement, or open borders treaty, that all member states are party to. The current legislation is valid for three years, The Guardian reports.
In 2015, Sweden, which has a population of around 10 million, received more than 150,000 asylum applications—making it one of the more popular European countries for refugees to settle in. Last year, Sweden had presented itself as a safe haven for refugees. This change implies its asylum system can no longer cope with the influx. When the Swedish deputy prime minister announced the change in refugee policy, he began to cry, according to The Guardian.
04-01-2016, 06:13 PM
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Re: After 1 million migrants, Europe's borders are back
Originally Posted by clumsy
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When the Swedish deputy prime minister announced the change in refugee policy, he began to cry ...
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