Most Swedes do have passports though.
Any idea what the punishment is for not carrying?
In practice, that means you just carry your regular driver's license in your wallet when crossing the border.
I hear there's a similar setup in the Benelux countries, so ID is definitely not mandatory in the entire EU.
Now, there aren't any checks except for the border into Sweden from Denmark, but if there is a check you are not allowed to travel using an ID or driver's license. Driver's licences, ID cards issued by banks or tax offices are not valid for travel within schengen even though you are generally able to move between the countries anyway.
The misconception you present is the reason Swedes with driver's licences and normal ID cards got stranded in Denmark.
"Within the Nordic area, any Nordic identity documentation (e.g. a driving license) is valid as proof of identity for Nordic citizens because of the Nordic Passport Union, while a national identity card or a passport is can be required in other Schengen countries"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Passport_Union
In other words, you need to be able to identify yourself, but not necessarily with a national ID or a passport as you would when entering other parts of the Schengen area.
The border controls between Denmark and Sweden are a temporary suspension of those rules but it only concerns people crossing the border at those points -- not people who who are already in the country or people who cross the borders at other locations, like say, the Finnish/Swedish border.
Mind you I suspect mostly people do carry 'official' identification documents on them most of the time (e.g. driving licenses) but there is no requirement to actually have these on you at all times.
"if you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to fear / if you've something to hide, you shouldn't even be here"
We had them after WWII until sometime in the 50's when they were removed due to abuse by the authorities. Hence there is still a distrust of them. The scheme recently introduced and then scrapped could have had some interesting consequences.
This is part of why we have such "fun" with the free movement provisions, in that we do not have a population register. Nor a requirement to keep the authorities notified of where we live.
Hence unlike the other EU countries, we can not enforce the 90 day limit on EU folks being here without means to support themselves.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3129302.stm
a bit more detail here:
http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/identit...
It is rather a pointless exercise, since people can slip past the border, and once within the country there is no need to carry or produce ID. So as long as one avoids interactions with the authorities, one will not be tracked.
About all it will do is allow a count to be kept of the number of law abiding (non EEA & non Swiss) foreigners within the country.
If Brexit ever does occur, it may then also include the EEA countries and Switzerland (depending upon what reciprocal travel arrangements develop), but would not include the Irish.
Mine was issued by Skatterverket which is the tax agency, no? Surely that's "Government issued ID".
In fact, I had to give them my fingerprint and iris scan when I got my card.
(Although I have been denied entry when coming back from Copenhagen with it; "It is not a travel document" was the reasoning which is completely against the Schengen agreement.)
When I lived in Copenhagen a few years back the commuters numbered in the 10000's. I can imagine that number has gone down a lot recently.
See: https://www.poliisi.fi/identity_card/use_of_the_identity_car...
This is how travel works right now between the UK and Ireland, hence why it's such a big pain point in regards to Brexit.
In neither Ireland nor the UK, nor for travel between them (except by 'plane) is one required to have or produce ID.
What one has to do (if asked, and then a right asserted) is establish one's right to enter the country. The easiest way to do that is via a Passport.
One can still travel (by boat) between the two countries w/o a passport, you just have to be prepared (if challenged) to argue and maybe waste some time.
Driving a vehicle in the the UK (and I assume in Ireland) is a situation where one can be required to produce ID (even then you do not have to carry it), but not in normal day to day life.
But yes, I kinda expected a regular ID would be enough, just as it has been in the past.
Does your regular ID state your citizenship? Good, then you can travel. If it doesn't, you aren't proving that you are a citizen with the right to travel freely in schengen.
No amount of explanation helped. I did have my passport with me and I showed it to this lady. Rest of the trip I used only the ID card.
Common theme seems to be, at least in Finland, that dealing with public agencies and authorities is just fine, but you can get to a trouble with private companies.
> Om du inte har ett pass går det bra med ett nationellt ID-kort. På det nationella ID-kortet framgår vilken nationalitet man har. ID-kort som utfärdats av Skatteverket eller en bank är inte ett nationellt ID-kort eftersom det inte framgår vilken nationalitet man har - det framgår endast vilket land som kortet är utfärdat i och räknas därmed inte som giltig legitimation.
https://www.oresunddirekt.se/nyheter/graenskontroll-vid-inre...