The refugee crisis: Austria wants to seal borders

After Italian authorities proposed to offer travel documents to migrants, Austria threatens to close its borders.

 

Italy’s proposal is considered to be absurd by the Austrian authorities, who declared that they will not allow refugees to cross the Brenner Pass between Italy and Austria.

“Rescue in the Mediterranean cannot be a one-way ticket to central Europe,” commented the Foreign Minister of Austria, Mr. Sebastian Kurz.

The reaction comes after Mario Giro, the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister has proposed offering travel permits to Libyan migrants, that enables them to continue their trips towards other European countries. This translates into 85.000 refugees free to leave from the Italian camps that are already saturated and claim asylum in any EU country under specific regulations.

Therefore, Austria considers the proposal unacceptable and claims that it will close its Brenner Pass borders if the measure will be applied.

As tensions rise, authorities in Vienna have declared that, if neccesary, they will also mobilize 750 soldiers and military vehicles in orders to stop the migrants aiming to cross the borders.

In response, Mario Giro stated that Italy had “no intention of conducting unilateral moves” and asked for the officials in Vienna not to overreact, as he called the Austrian threat “surreal”.

“These new threats sound like deja vu. As the Austrians are aware, the situation on the border is under control,” also commented Sandro Gozi, Italy’s Europe minister.

On the other hand, Austria believes the reaction is justified, as Italy has already handed travel documents to Tunisian refugees back in 2011 during the Arab Spring.

Yet, after the intense comments from Vienna, the Italian foreign minister has stated that giving permits to migrants is “not on the agenda” for the moment, as Italy is currently struggling to stop migrants from Lybia.

Meanwhile, the European Union makes efforts to ban the use of the dinghies that transport the migrants, due to the fact that they are also use by traffickers ordering the boats from the Chinese online market.

 

Source: theaustralian.com.au