Sweden extends border controls, calls for stricter EU checks

Sweden on Thursday decided to extend the border controls it imposed in December in order to quell the flow of migrants into the country.

The checks, a departure from the free movement associated with the European Union's Schengen zone, will be in place until March 8, the government said in a statement.

"Europe has not handled the task of maintaining its external borders," Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said.

"Until we can see a common European solution, Sweden will need to implement short-term, national solutions. The inner border controls will provide us with a better control over who comes into the country," he added.

Migrants entering Sweden without identification documents needed to decide at the border whether to apply for asylum in the country, which received some 160,000 asylum applications during 2015, according to Migration Agency figures.

With the border checks in place, undocumented migrants wish to enter Sweden to travel to neighboring Norway are turned away by border agents.

A Schengen member country may introduce temporary border controls only in the case of major events such as terror attacks, according to Swedish authorities. Sweden joined the Schengen area in 2001.

The Swedish government introduced temporary residence permits for asylum grantees in November, during which the country received around 10,000 asylum applications per week. Endit