Sweden's border controls could remain for six months

The Swedish government on Friday said the temporary border controls it imposed this week could remain in place until May next year, local media reported.

EU rules state that border checks may be introduced for a maximum of six months, public broadcaster Swedish Television reported after police officers on Thursday began spot-checking documents at common entryways along Sweden's southern border.

"I hope that they will not need to remain for as long as six months, but that will depend on how this issue develops," Interior Minister Anders Ygeman told the channel after months of extraordinary levels of asylum seeker admissions, according to the Swedish Migration Agency.

Ygeman said Swedish police may have to begin setting aside other tasks in order to perform the controls, an operation that includes about 300 officers.

The checks were introduced after weekly admissions of asylum seekers in October exceeded the expected average per month for 2015, according to figures from the Migration Agency.

"The purpose of the checks was to establish order and control at the border and that has been achieved. But the challenge continues in terms of finding housing, and we are at the limit," Migration Minister Morgan Johansson told Swedish Television.

A third of the child refugees entering Europe alone end up in Sweden, said Johansson, who added that the Swedish government was in talks with opposition parties over how to limit admissions of minors seeking asylum. Endit