Random stop checks at Denmark's borders will begin as soon as next week, Copenhagen announced Friday, signaling what many feared could be the beginning of the end to Europe's border-free Schengen zone.

The Danish government on Friday narrowly pushed the controversial new border controls through parliament's finance committee, despite outcries from the opposition and Denmark's southern neighbor Germany.

Beginning Tuesday, 30 customs agents will run random stop checks at Denmark's border to Germany - ten of them on ferries between the two countries - and 20 agents are set to patrol the Denmark's Swedish border.

Tax minister Peter Christensen told reporters that the controls were intended to hinder crime, especially drug trafficking, and were not meant to limit freedom of movement.

"The great majority of travelers won't notice the controls," Christensen told the German news agency dpa Friday, adding, "We look forward to welcoming German holidaymakers."

Criticism from down South

Ferries between Denmark and Germany will also be subject to random customs searches

The decision has received heavy criticism from German politicians, who accuse Copenhagen of undermining the 26-nation Schengen border-free zone.

"We aren't happy about it. We've made that clear," said Peter Harry Carstensen, premier of Schleswig-Holstein, the northern German state sharing a border with Denmark.

"We want open borders and not closed ones. We want more cross-border transit and business."

In Brussels, German member of European Parliament Manfred Weber called the move "completely unacceptable." He accused Denmark of expanding its customs as a pretext to clamp down on immigration.

"This is a targeted restriction to freedom of movement that undermines the Schengen system," he said.

'Open to the world' or bowing to the right?

Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen has defended the move, insisting the new border checks were in full agreement with Schengen and their aim was "to fight the entry of illegal goods and drugs" into the country rather than to control immigration.

"Denmark will remain a country open to the world," she said last month after meeting with her German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.

Denmark's center-right government shocked several of its European Union partners when it announced its proposal for increased border control on May 10 under pressure from its far-right ally, the nationalist People's Party.

Author: David Levitz (AFP, dpa)

Editor: Andreas Illmer