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Competing views of border control: Not a question of ‘if’ but ‘how’
TheCopenhagenPost
June 17th, 2015
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This article is more than 9 years old.
Government understands concerns but doesn’t support physical barriers
Venstre and Dansk Folkeparti have both voiced support for reintroducing border controls of the type temporarily introduced in 2011 under the Venstre-Konservative government with the support of DF.
DR reports that Mette Frederiksen, the justice minister, understands the concerns, but stops short of supporting physical barriers.
READ MORE: Government locked in dispute over borders
The justice minister’s statement follows French and Austrian escalations of border control due to a reported influx of migrants from neighbouring countries.
Methods can be discussed
“The pressure on Europe and not least the southern countries is very big,” she said.
“I think we need to have understanding for the countries in Europe – and that also applies to Denmark – wanting to know what’s happening at their borders. Then we can discuss the methods. Some people are supporters of old-fashioned border control. I don’t believe in that so much.”
Denmark’s previous border control policy attracted a lot of criticism when it was introduced in 2011. Recent government proposals regarding less invasive forms of border control, such as the use of number plate scanners, have not been met with the same degree of opposition.
The minister’s remarks came following a meeting of the EU member states in Luxembourg, where the issue of quotas for accepting asylum-seekers was high on the agenda. Denmark was not part of the debate regarding this issue because of its regime of legal provisos on certain EU matters.
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