Scandinavian countries fight the influx of refugees with money and fences
In Norway, in particular, they assume that migration services will be able to send approximately half of asylum seekers back to the countries from which they arrived in 2015.
“Perhaps some think that the figure of 31,000 asylum seekers automatically equals the same number of refugees who must be integrated into Norwegian society,” wrote Frode Forfang, head of the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, in his blog. “In reality, the number of those who will receive a residence permit in Norway is much smaller,” Forfang believes. Up to 15,000 people may be rejected, experts believe.
At the same time, Oslo seeks to better control the influx of illegal refugees into the country. This concerns, in particular, the so-called “Arctic route.” It passes near the settlement of Storskog, where the only regular road border crossing on the Russian-Norwegian border is located.
Migrants enter Norwegian territory from Russia, bypassing Moscow, Murmansk, Nikel, and covering the last meters of the border by bicycle, reports Süddeutsche Zeitung. To protect against illegal guests, the government in Oslo decided to build a fence near Storskog about 200 meters long and thus block the illegal migration flow.
In Denmark, they want to turn back refugees directly at the border. The government of conservative Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has submitted a bill that, if adopted, would allow police to refuse asylum seekers entry into the country already at the border. Also, the financial plan presented by the cabinet in Copenhagen indicates that the authorities in 2016 expect a serious reduction in the number of asylum seekers – from 25,000 to 10,000 people. Thus, they expect to save about 400 million euros.
Meanwhile, in Sweden, the government pays refugees to withdraw their applications and leave the country. Over the first eight months of 2016, more than 4,500 asylum seekers withdrew their documents and left the kingdom, thus responding to long processing times, new strict rules on family reunification, and payments of 4,100 euros intended for anyone who decides to return home, writes the British newspaper The Independent.