Looks like there's a serious prospect of the border checks extending for the foreseeable future...


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016...-borders-.html

The checks where they are currently are going to be extended and there will probably even be at least some temporary mini-"passport-free" zones that are smaller than Schengen. The NPU countries in Schengen are looking at doing just this with a mini-Schengen of sort that goes back to what they had before; and much of the rest of Schengen may at least temporarily put Greece sort of outside Schengen in practical if not legal terms.

How temporary will this be? Not clear, but the refugee crisis has gotten worse: not only are the numbers significantly higher when comparing this period to last; the demographics of the refugee flows into Greece has changed to become majority women and pre-teenagers when it comes to at least Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans arriving into Greece. The only group amongst them whose numbers don't seem to be changing year over year as extensively are that of the elderly. What does all this mean in practical terms when crossing borders? More of the same from earlier this year and late last year,, unless and until they decide to pick and choose the Schengen countries to be excluded. Greece is prime candidate one; Italy and Malta are runner ups.

But for now at least, this isn't a reason for me to change my travel plans and habits.

I hope this means the silly ID checks at CPH station and Hyllie will be over soon.

Though I did take this train last week and it was relatively painless.

I know it is completely irrelevant but I found it slightly amusing that the Swedish police officers who were checking passports at Hyllie were both of an ethnicity that is typical of the 'refugees' they are trying to stop entering Sweden. And all the passengers in the carriage were white except for me.

I said 'relatively painless' above because there was a white person travelling on a passport from an African country and the policemen weren't sure about something on his visa. The train was delayed by a further 10 minutes while they contacted a superior.

Some Norwegian person asked how long these checks would last for and the policemen said they believed it was indefinite.

I don't get what Greece has to do with it. Greece shares no land borders with any Schengen countries. I haven't heard that the refugees are flying on by air from Greece (I know airlines on intra-Shengen flights frequently check passports, don't know if they look for valid visas.)

Greece is the portal by which most non-flying refugees from SW/C/S Asia and Africa make it to the contiguous surface bordering area that is the rest of the EU and/or Schengen and/or otherwise a party to the applicable international legal agreements that grant refugees rights in these parts. And some refugees do fly from/via Greece into other parts of the Schengen area.

Most of the police assigned to work the station at Hyllie are ethnically European, with very few being of any non-European descent going by what I've seen of the staff and the duty lists.

When the crossborder train gets into Hyllie from Denmark, I make a quick a determination of whether or not I should wait on the Oresundstag or ditch it for the purple Pagatag trains across the platform. Usually I am better off ditching Oresundstag at Hyllie, regardless of the passenger demographics, and then continuing my journey. But that's only if I care to try to save a few minutes, while gambling on the benefit of the free Skanetrafiken internet vs the free Oresundstag internet.

The police staffing at Hyllie is going to consider for an indefinite period of time, as in months or maybe even years. It comes down to how soon the NPU countries decide to act as one on the issue and how soon Sweden thinks that Denmark (and perhaps Germany) have things under control.