Majority of Finns support restoration of border controls: poll

The majority of Finns support the restoration of border controls in Finland, a latest survey conducted by the Finnish market research company Taloustutmus shows.

Based on the opinion poll, 58 percent of the respondents would like to see Finland restoring border controls for people entering the countries from other Nordic countries and Schengen states, reported Finnish national broadcaster Yle on Friday.

Meanwhile, 31 percent of Finns oppose the idea.

Among supporters of the populist Finns Party, 78 percent of them support the restoration of border controls.

In particular, education level has been reflected in the responses. Juho Rahkonen, research manager at Taloustutmus, told Yle that the more education a person received, the more he or she is in favor of the free movement.

Sweden and Denmark recently imposed temporary border controls, in order to curb the influx of asylum seekers to their countries.

The survey suggests that Finland may also take control of its borders later in the spring, according to Rahkonen, as the number of asylum seekers arriving in Europe is expected to rise again.

The survey was carried out at the end of January this year. A total of more than 1,000 Finns participated in it.

Since the beginning of 2015, the EU has experienced a large influx of refugees, causing an unprecedented refugee crisis. According to the UN Refugee Agency, in 2015 more than one million asylum seekers crossed the Mediterranean into Europe. Endit