Following an unannounced inspection at Copenhagen Airport, the European Commission (EC) has found multiple security vulnerabilities in the Schengen zone areas.
The inspection has revealed, among other things, technical problems with the system that collects fingerprints in passport control and a lack of training to ensure personnel can detect forged documents.
The EC has also called for an immediate implementation of the electronic advance passenger information system, which collects passenger information from airlines and checks the data with the Schengen databases.
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Problematic and scandalous
“This means that our Schengen border in Kastrup has been more or less open,” Henning Bang Fuglsang Madsen Sørensen, a lecturer at the law department at the University of Southern Denmark, told Jyllands-Posten.
“If the police do not register fingerprints properly and do not effectively control counterfeit travel documents, it is problematic.”
Peter Kofod Poulsen, the legal rapporteur for Dansk Folkeparti, has called the findings “scandalous” and criticised Denmark for not complying with all obligations to guard the external borders of the Schengen area.
The National Police has confirmed that Denmark received 13 recommendations from the EC, but denies that border controls at the airport are not effective enough.
