Denmark customs control plan stalls

(COPENHAGEN) - Denmark's controversial plans to introduce permanent customs controls at its borders suffered a temporary setback Friday when a counter-proposal forced the government to put the matter to a full vote in parliament.

The plan, which has met heavy criticism both at home and abroad, had been set to easily pass through Denmark's parliamentary finance committee Friday, but a last-minute manoeuvre by the left-leaning opposition parties meant it could no longer pass without a debate and vote in parliament.

Critics have cautioned that the plan to reintroduce customs controls at Danish borders might undermine the 26-nation Schengen border-free area.

Denmark's centre-right government, which announced the plan last month under pressure from its far-right ally, the Danish People's Party, flatly rejected that notion Friday, but Finance Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen acknowledged it would be more difficult to pass the initiative through the full 179-seat house than the finance committee.

"Now we have a job to do to explain what this really means," he told reporters as he left the finance committee meeting that had failed to sanction the plan.

Within two hours of the meeting though, the finance ministry told Danish news agency Ritzau that it had secured the one vote it had been missing for a 90-seat parliamentary majority for the plan and was confident the measure would pass when it is brought before the house next week.

The government nonetheless opened a campaign to explain and justify the measures to critics.

"What we are planning is fully within Schengen, and Denmark is a firm believer in open borders. What we have here is a customs effort, and only a customs effort," Foreign Minister Lene Espersen told AFP following a news conference.

"It is concerned with the control of illegal goods and items such as drugs and weapons," she insisted, adding that Denmark "continues to be a country open to the world and a country that lives up to its international obligations".

"The government will carefully ensure conformity with EU and Schengen law throughout the implementation phase," Espersen said.

Development Aid Minister Soeren Pind also rejected suggestions that the initiative would entail a reinstatement of passport controls.

"This is only customs control," he said, insisting the opposition to the measure was the result of a misunderstanding.

According to the plan, which is not scheduled to be fully implemented until 2014, 50 customs officers would initially be stationed along the borders to Germany and Sweden to carry out normal customs control.

Both ministers underscored that no general or systematic control of all vehicles and trains crossing the border would take place.

"Technically, customs controls will be carried out precisely as today, on the basis of risk analysis and threat assessments, and at times combined with spot checks in order to sustain customs control," Pind said.