Austria said on Wednesday it would erect fences on its border with Slovenia in an effort to control the flow of migrants into the country, sparking a row with its other neighbor, Germany, which complains the Alpine country is not properly managing the movement of asylum seekers.
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Germany toughened its rhetoric yesterday in response to an accelerating influx of asylum seekers, pledging to step up deportations of migrants and accusing its neighbour Austria of trying to push refugees over the border after dark. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced that, while Syrian citizens are mostly accepted, numerous Afghans pouring into the country will likely be sent back to their homeland.
Interior Minister Mikl-Leitner said that construction of the intended fence will begin after ten days of planning, according to the Associated Press.
“There will be no fences either toward Hungary or Slovenia”, Faymann said in a statement to the Austrian state broadcaster ORF.
Since Hungary sealed its borders with Serbia and Croatia on September 15 and October.
The Austrian authorities stated Wed.it should build barricades at its border with Slovenia to assist control a flood of refugees. Separately, Slovenia may start to build “technical barriers” on the Croatian border if the migrant crisis doesn’t abate, Prime Minister Miro Cerar told reporters in Ljubljana.
The proposed fence would run along Austria’s border with Slovenia.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reports, Austria said that it plans to build a fence along part of its border with Slovenia, in an attempt to slow the arrival of migrants and refugees.
In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper, he accused Austria of failing to coordinate the influx of refugees at its borders with Bavaria.
The human cost of the crisis rose again on Wednesday as at least seven people, including five children, died when four migrant boats sank off the Greek island of Lesbos.
“Britain, by contrast, is growing rapidly”, Johnston said, adding that UK’s current population of around 64 million is expected to increase to more than 70 million within 12 years, and then another 10 million in the next 25 years.
Seehofer has been critical of Merkel’s open doors policy, which has led to hundreds of thousands moving across into Europe fleeing war zones including Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mikl-Leitner said Austria is struggling “because Germany is taking too few” migrants.
“We agree with the Afghan government that Afghanistan’s youth and middle class should remain in their country and take part in its reconstruction”, he said, claiming that an increasing number of those coming in recent weeks were from Kabul’s middle class, and that their departure threatened Afghanistan’s stability.
Dealing with the approximately 700,000 asylum seekers who have entered Europe this year has heightened tensions within the EU.
“Austria’s behavior in recent days was out of line”, he said.
The leaders say that anonymous threats via mail and social media also appear to be increasing, adding that “people, whatever their view, who behave that way limit freedom for all of us”.
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Mitterlehner said Austria must show an ability to deal with the situation, which includes not simply “watching as people stream across the border”, and that authority and sovereignty were important.
