Sweden may continue to have border controls with Denmark for six months if the Commission does not have serious objections to this.
At the same time, the Commission is at an information disadvantage compared to Sweden as Sweden is now justifying the extension with threats of terrorist acts.
Sweden is the one who has the information about the security situation. The Commission has no authority or much knowledge in the area.
It is therefore difficult for the Commission to contradict whether Sweden has a definite opinion.
This was stated by EU sources to the Direkt news agency on Thursday after Minister of Justice and Interior Morgan Johansson's announcement that Sweden wants to extend border controls until November 12.
The current decision expires on May 12.
Other countries with border controls are also expected to request a similar extension. These countries are Norway, Denmark, Germany and Austria.
The extension will take place automatically if the Commission does not raise objections following its analysis.
This procedure differs from when the five countries justified border controls with the large refugee flows from November 2015 to November last year. In that case, other EU countries had to actively approve the controls following a recommendation from the Commission.
The checks were approved because serious deficiencies had been identified in Greece's protection of the EU's external border.
But EU law only allows border controls for this reason for a maximum of two years. Therefore, the five countries changed the justification last November to threats to their internal security.
Border controls are an exception to free movement within the Schengen area. They must be proportionate and limited in scope to what is absolutely necessary.
Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt
