Sweden has started checking the identity of travellers from Denmark in an effort to stem the flows of immigrants that has raised concerns of increased border controls across Europe.
The checks on train, bus and ferry passengers crossing the Oresund strait between Copenhagen, the Danish capital, and Malmo, the southern Swedish city, began on Monday and were denounced by politicians and commuters in both countries.
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Sweden was long regarded as Europe’s most generous country to asylum seekers, offering permanent residence in recent years to Iraqis and then Syrians. But after a surge in the number of asylum seekers last year, Sweden’s centre-left government buckled under pressure from local authorities and the public to crackdown on immigration.
The ID checks do not apply to cars on the Oresund crossing that features in the TV series The Bridge. Travel documents have seldom been needed between the two Nordic countries since passport union was introduced in 1958.
Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister, called it “a dark day for our Nordic region”. Michael Randropp, chairman of the Commuters Association representing the more than 10,000 daily bridge users, likened the controls to a new Berlin Wall or Iron Curtain.
The controls have stoked tensions between Sweden and Denmark, where the centre-right government and its centre-left predecessor had been critical of Stockholm’s generous immigration policies.
Hans Christian Schmidt, Denmark’s transport minister, said: “It is sad that Swedes have run a failed immigration policy which now means that they are forced to do this. It is sad and annoying for the whole region.”
Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Denmark’s prime minister, was also critical, saying large sums of money have been spent marketing the Oresund area on both sides of the border as one region.
The anti-immigration Danish People’s party that acts as the main support for Mr Rasmussen’s government in parliament, has called for border controls and several immigration experts believe Sweden’s action will set a precedent for other countries.
Sweden received 163,000 applications for asylum last year, double the number from 2014. Local authorities across the country but particularly in the south, close to the Danish border, have complained that public services are under strain due to the arrival of so many asylum seekers.
Stefan Lofven, Sweden’s prime minister, admitted the country had been “naive” about immigration when he announced curbs in November that restrict the right to family reunification and offer temporary rather than permanent residence.
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