Denmark: Border controls
01 March 1994
Denmark is the only non-Schengen country in the EU with an immediate border to the Schengen area (the Schengen countries are 9 of the 12 EU states excluding Denmark, the UK and Ireland). The Danish/German border is seen by the Schengen countries as an external border. Denmark is a member of the Nordic passport-union which means that there are no checks at the border on travellers from the other Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark). The control of citizens from other countries arriving from Nordic countries has, up till recently, been quite sporadic.
This situation has led to a demand from Germany that carrier sanctions of DM2,000-5,000 per person will be levied for people arriving in Germany via Denmark who do not have legal entry papers. At a meeting in Bonn on 9 December 1993 the Danish Minister of Justice, Erling Olsen, persuaded his German counterpart, Manfred Kanther, to postpone carrier sanctions from the 17 December deadline to 24 January. The negotiations also resulted in a slight modification on who would be held responsible and who would be sanctioned. Bus drivers transporting passengers on boats, railways transporting train passengers (including across the land border) will be exempt.
The Danish government has now intensified spot checks at all ferry ports receiving passengers from the Nordic countries. Although no accurate figures have yet been published it is reported that substantial numbers are being affected. The border controllers have detained people without papers, held them for up to 10 hours, and sent them back by ship to the port they entered from. The new policy is to be "evaluated" after three months.
The administrative director of SAS (Scandinavian Airline System), P Hojland, has protested about the German imposition of carrier sanctions and that every passenger has to have legal entry papers will be very costly for the airline.
The Danish Minister of Justice said that this demand from Germany had accelerated consideration of Danish membership of the Schengen Agreement. The Minister is now discussing the possibility of observer status for Denmark in the Schengen meetings with the political parties.