Ref. Ares(2016)228336 - 15/01/2016
Dimitris AVRAMOPOULOS
of /А/' foeestyieeisl· 'féosnmàiàibsì/
Brussels, 15.
01.
ARES (2016)
Dear Minister,
l
i
I am contacting you following your letter dated 13 January 2016 in which you inform about
your decision to prolong the controls as reintroduced at the Danish internal borders between 4
and 14 January 2016, in accordance with Articles 23 and 25 of Regulation (EU) No
1051/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No
562/2006 in order to provide for common rules on the temporary reintroduction of border
control at the internal borders in exceptional circumstances (Schengen Borders Code).
You state that the Danish internal security and public policy continue to be at threat in view of
the continued influx of migrants heading subsequently north and in result of the measures
adopted by the Swedish Government, namely the decision on further prolongation of border
controls and the adoption of the law imposing carriers' liability wi th regard to intra-Schengen
connections.
I welcome your commitment to keep the scope of the control measures taken by your
authorities in the limits strictly necessary to the threat to public policy and internal security, as
required under the Schengen Borders Code, and to monitor and adequately adapt these
measures.
However, I would appreciate if you could share with the Commission within 5 days any
relevant information and in particular figures demonstrating the need and the proportionality
of the decision to reintroduce temporary border control, as well as information on the concrete
implementation of the controls at internal borders and their effects.
As you know, in accordance with the Schengen Borders Code, the temporary reintroduction
must not exceed what is strictly necessary to respond to the serious threat. In order for the
Commission to assess the necessity and proportionality of the decision based on factual data, I
have consulted and sought the same information from other Member State who decided to
introduce temporary border controls or prolong them, where further information was
necessary.
Yours faithfully,
Ms. Inger Støjberg
Minister for Immigration, Integration and Housing
The Kingdom of Denmark
Electronically signed on 15/01/2016 15:35 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563