Police in Malmö, Sweden, check IDs in line with new border controls. Flickr/ News Øresund, Malmö, Sweden. Some rights reserved.On 10 January 2016 the inevitable happened. Europe’s shameful and deliberate mishandling of the refugee crisis led Sweden to impose ID controls at the Sweden-Denmark border. While temporary border controls were first introduced in November 2015, this most recent piece of legislation will be valid for three years.
Rail commuters travelling to Sweden now have to change trains at Copenhagen airport and go through ID checkpoints, where “security personnel” dressed in fluorescent jackets take pictures of their photo-ID on government-issued smartphones. Some commuters even laugh and joke with them; scenes which would not be out of place in Orwell’s ‘1984’.
This is the first time since the 1950s that travellers from Denmark to Sweden have to present a valid photo ID in order to complete their journey. The decision also marks a turning point for the Social Democrat and Green coalition in Sweden, which had previously welcomed asylum seekers into the country. While many commentators say that this may be the beginning of the end for Schengen, a more pressing question arises. What does this mean for Europe as a project and for the people coming here in search of safety?
