OSLO, NORWAY — Norway is introducing temporary border checks on its frontiers with other Western European nations after the domestic security agency raised the terror threat level, police said Saturday.
The checks will apply until October 22, according to a police statement.
It cited “a challenging threat picture” and the October 8 announcement by the security agency PST that it was increasing Norway's threat level from “moderate” to “high,” the second-highest level on a five-tier scale. PST pointed to an increased threat to Jewish and Israeli targets in particular.
Norway isn't a member of the European Union, but the country is part of the European ID-check free-travel zone known as the Schengen area. It has land borders with EU and Schengen members Sweden and Finland.
The border-free Schengen area guarantees free movement to more than 425 million EU citizens, along with non-EU nationals living in the EU or visiting the EU as tourists, as exchange students or for business purposes. That free movement of people is said to enable EU citizens to travel, work and live in an EU country without special formalities.
The Schengen area encompasses most EU countries, with the exceptions of Cyprus and Ireland. Bulgaria and Romania are the newest countries to join the Schengen area, as of March 2024, meaning any person crossing the internal air and sea borders will no longer be subject to checks.
Norway police said that the new temporary controls won't involve all travelers being checked, and that there's no reason to expect delays at border crossings.
