Løkke Rasmussen claims border-control victory

Denmark’s prime minister defends ‘fantastic deal’.

Listening to Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s prime minister, at last week’s European Council, one could easily have believed that it was he who had won concessions from the European Commission and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, over Denmark’s decision to re-establish border controls. The reality is more likely that Løkke Rasmussen gave way to their demands.

On Thursday (23 July), Løkke Rasmussen held bilateral talks with José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, and Merkel. At these meetings – which he described as “constructive” – he set out Denmark’s plan for new border controls, emphasising that they would not be in breach of Schengen rules.

In reality, Løkke Rasmussen pledged that Denmark would play by the rules. Thus the agreement between Denmark’s political parties to re-establish border controls to “fight cross-border crime and human trafficking” (which the prime minister repeatedly described as “a fantastic deal”) is likely to reflect the Commission’s views. Barroso drily said he thought that “his message had been understood” in Denmark.

Election

By promising to stick to the rules, Løkke Rasmussen will reassure the Commission (and Merkel) that Denmark is not about to trample on EU citizens’ right to move freely across the country’s borders.

But in defending the “fantastic deal” and claiming that he, not the Commission, is in charge, and allowing for the process of getting it through the Danish parliament, Løkke Rasmussen will buy enough time to keep Danish voters happy until the country’s general election – to be held no later than 12 November.

If Løkke Rasmussen is re-elected, some border infrastructure is likely to be erected to maintain public confidence. But it will be a far cry from what the Danish People’s Party, the country’s political kingmaker, had in mind, and it will be within the Schengen rules.