A war of words has erupted between Sweden and Denmark over who should take the growing number of migrants gathering at the border between the two countries.
Sweden, traditionally proud of its open borders policy, has been forced to implement controls after being overwhelmed by the sheer number of migrants entering the country.
Sweden’s Migration Minister Morgan Johansson said on Wednesday his country would introduce new ID checks on buses, ferries and trains crossing the border from Denmark due to the number of people trying to enter the country.
Most of these checks will take place on the Danish side of the border, Mr Johansson said, claiming that Denmark was happy with this.
However, he then appeared to criticise Denmark by suggesting that Sweden had already done its fair share in the crisis.
“We have hit our limit. Denmark has not,” Johansson said.
His comment drew fury from the Danish government, with Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen telling Swedes they should take care of their own issues.
“It’s not up to the Swedes to judge Danish immigration policies,” he said. “Denmark and Sweden have rather different immigration policies, that’s been the case for generations. And that’s also why the Swedes have the problems that they have right now. And what our limit is, that’s something that is defined in Denmark and not by the Swedes.”
Mr Rasmussen also said controls on the Øresund Bridge, which links his country with Sweden, would negatively affect the local region’s economy.
He put the blame for this squarely on Sweden’s liberal immigration policy, saying: “That is a Swedish problem. It is created by Sweden, it’s not created by us.”
Last month, the two countries got into another argument over the migrant crisis after Mr Johansson suggested migrants should “go back to Germany or Denmark”.
His Danish counterpart, Inger Støjberg, called the comment “neither good nor appropriate”.
“Sweden put itself in the situation it is in by adopting immigration policies that are extremely lenient in every way. It’s not a solution to start guiding refugees to other countries. One can hope that the Swedes are beginning to take a little more realistic approach to the situation,” Ms Støjberg said.