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Schengen ain't what it used to be

My wife and I were on the train back from a one-week bike trip in Germany and Czechia, and were crossing back into Denmark. As the train pulled into Padborg, multiple border officers boarded the train, systematically checking IDs - passports, residence cards, and so on. The unusual thing is

Back in 2021, when we had just moved here, we crossed into Sweden from Denmark on the Öresundståg for a day trip - and were greeted in Hyllie by a full detachment of border control officers, complete with police dogs in tow, who made a thorough search of the train and its many toilets. More recently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, and renewed tensions in the Middle East have been cited as reasons to keep border controls in place - but "migratory pressure" is still commonly invoked as well. For many Europeans, the Schengen of free movement across borders no longer exists - it has been replaced by a patchwork of passport checks, police dogs, and pointed questions.

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