“This is about ensuring an orderly, controlled entry into our country, not about shutting down the border”, Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said on Wednesday, Austria’s branch of The Local reported.
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“We need to protect (the EU’s) external borders in Greece, Turkey and Italy, but definitely not in Austria”, he said in a televised interview.
Germany, the EU’s economic powerhouse, is expecting up to one million asylum-seekers this year, with Afghans making up the second-largest group after Syrians.
The developments highlighted the growing consequences of the European Union’s failure to forge a common solution to the problem of hundreds of thousands of people from Syria, Afghanistan and other strife-ridden countries who have been trekking through the continent on their way to seek new, safe lives in the heart of Europe.
Both Slovenia and Austria are European Union countries and two of the 26-member Schengen zone, which calls for passport-free crossing among the member states.
Yesterday, it emerged that weapon sales were soaring in Austria as citizens of the small Alpine nation become paranoid over the numbers of refugees crowding into their country. Eight police from Austria have been deployed since earlier this month, while Slovenian authorities say officers from Hungary and Slovakia could arrive within days.
Austria is the latest frontier in the crisis, where people – sometimes as many as 8,000 per day – are spilling over its borders with Slovenia.
Incidentally, it was Slovenia, which had announced its intentions to build a border fence first.
Police say almost 270,000 migrants have crossed into Croatia since September 15, when Hungary closed its border with Serbia, diverting refugees to Croatia.
Wrapped in several layers of blankets and huddled close to each other for warmth, about 100 refugees were waiting at the crack of dawn to cross into Germany from Austria.
Mikl-Leitner acknowledged a possible effect on migrants in Slovenia if Austria built a border barrier – a situation she said Austria already is struggling to deal with “because Germany is taking too few”.
Germany, the country of choice of numerous people fleeing regions torn by war and hardship, moved as well to reduce the migrant load. “Part of this is real, much of it is a social construction which enables governments to justify the establishment of new border fences as a means of keeping out the “alien” and controlling their own territory”.
October 27, 2015: Refugees are led by German Federal Police to an emergency accommodation center after crossing the Austrian-German border near Wegscheid, Germany.
Once in Austria, they will be registered before continuing their journey by bus to other locations.
“I would not dramatise” the issue, the source said.
“If necessary, we are ready to put up the fence immediately”, said the Slovenian prime minister, Miro Cerar. A few transit countries have been seeking to limit the influx, leading to bottlenecks and tensions with neighbours.
In Sweden, the country’s immigration agency said it will discontinue publicizing the location of refugee housing facilities after more than 20 fires, many considered arsons.
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Under the newly-signed action plan, the EU’s initiative aims to slow the passage of refugees on their march towards Austria, Germany and Scandinavia.
