THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Will Denmark reinstating border controls help to stop crime, or will it be a first stop on the road to dismantling the EU?For 50 years as he kept watch over Denmark's border with Germany, Carl Jorgensen knew all about frontier problems. The former border guard tracked down drug dealers with his sniffer dog, cycled every inch of the boundary, and stopped hundreds of trouble-makers from entering his country with dubious intentions.
But the latest struggle for control over Denmark's frontier is not being waged on these flat farmlands of northern Europe, which Mr Jorgensen and his fellow border guards once policed.
Instead, it is being fought in the offices and chambers of Brussels, asDenmark takes on the European Union in a bitter row over the right to police its borders.
Last week Denmark announced that it was resuming checks along its frontiers with Germany and Sweden - having suspended them in 2001 when it joined the Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel throughout 22 of the EU's 27 member states, plus four others.
The Danish government says the resumption of border checks is needed to help prevent cross-border crime, illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Soren Pind, Denmark's integration minister, said that the EU needed a frank discussion about the "dark side" of open frontiers.
Copenhagen warned that, within the next three weeks, it will rebuild border stations; employ more customs officials; begin extensive video surveillance of cars crossing Danish borders; and make rapid police assistance available if the customs officers need them.
"We are trying our best to take measures that will secure the best aspects of freedom of movement, and at the same time, not let criminal activity pass through freely," said Mr Pind. » | Harriet Alexander, Tonder, southern Denmark | Sunday, May 15, 2011
