Off the wire
• 2nd LD-Writethru-Xinhua Insight: China plans 5 new space science satellites  • China Focus: Xiaomi gets 2,500 patents from Microsoft in transfer, cross-licensing deal  • Interview: Decent refugee centers in Greece our responsibility: UNHCR official  • Spain's car sales rise by 12.5 pct in Jan-May  • Morocco, India launch joint set-up to boost cooperation and ties  • SE European leaders say cooperation essential for region  • Jordan's new cabinet sworn in  • China's Lin Dan survives uphill opener in 2016 Indonesia Open  • News Analysis: Ukrainian president's political legacy mixed after two years in office  • UN warns 20,000 Iraqi children trapped in Fallujah battlefield  
You are here: 　 Home

Denmark further extends border controls to November

Xinhua, June 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Danish government on Wednesday further extended its temporary border controls on the German-Danish border to Nov. 12, 2016.

The move followed the European Commission's green light for an extension of the border controls within the Schengen area.

In early May, Denmark joined Sweden, Austria, France, Belgium and Germany in asking the commission to extend internal Schengen border controls for a period of six months.

The commission has agreed to the six member countries' request, given the number of refugees stuck in Greece has continued to rise to 54,000 people after the so-called western Balkans migration route closed.

"In the current situation, where a sustainable solution has yet to be found for securing Europe's external borders, I am pleased that we now have the opportunity to maintain border controls until at least Nov. 12, 2016," said Danish immigration minister Inger Stoejberg.

"We must take care of our own borders until common solutions are found at EU levels," Stoejberg added.

Denmark received 21,000 asylum applications in 2015, but the number of asylum seekers arriving in Denmark has fallen dramatically since the border controls were put in place at the start of January.

The latest data showed that some 350 people sought asylum in Denmark in May, the lowest number in a single month since 2012. Endit