Vienna’s announcement prompted sharp criticism from Berlin amid an escalating spat over Austria’s approach, underlining how the crisis is straining relations within the EU.
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Slovenia has cautioned that, should help not be forthcoming, it too could build a fence along its border with Croatia.
The Schengen passport-free area is seen as one of the EU’s most important achievements and the Commission has repeatedly expressed concern that re-imposing border controls threatens its future.
Austrian interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner told parliament that the construction of “technical barriers” would begin after about 10 days of planning.
The record high number of people seeking asylum in Europe this year – including refugees from the civil war in Syria and migrants from poor Balkan nations – is also creating friction within Germany itself which expects to receive up to a million immigrants.
She however did not specific the date, perhaps fearing a surge of migrants who would then attempt to enter Austria, before its borders are sealed. A 7-year-old boy died off Lesbos, where most migrants land, while a 12-month-old girl was in critical condition in hospital from the same boat accident. Most continue to Germany and other European Union countries from Austria.
REUTERS A group of women sit on the ground as migrants wait to cross the border into Spielfeld in Austria from the village of Sentilj, Slovenia.
Austria’s current practice of busing refugees to uncontrolled parts of the German-Austrian border is not acceptable, Herrmann said.
German federal police guide a group of migrants on their way after crossing the border between Austria and Germany.
Tensions between Germany and Austria are also festering, with German interior minister Thomas de Maizière describing Austria’s handling of the migration crisis as “out of order” as he accused Austrian authorities of driving refugees to the German border and leaving them there under darkness.
The southern German province of Bavaria, which borders Austria, has complained increasingly stridently to Berlin that it is reaching the limits of its capacity to receive refugees.
While on a visit to Pristina, Kosovo yesterday, Mr Fischer said Austria was reaching its limited capacities, with an expectation of a few 80,000 asylum requests. “The German police didn’t explain why, and now my family is cut in two”.
Germany has already tightened its security protocols. While a few European leaders support an open-door refugee policy, others are in favor of controlling the EU’s external borders, deporting more people and paying third countries to keep asylum seekers on their soil.
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“As a European I do not desire (a fence) but the state will be forced into it if the commitments (from Brussels) are not fulfilled”, Prime Minister Miro Cerar said Wednesday.
