Brussels, 28/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission said on Wednesday 28 October that it had not been informed of Austria's decision, made public that same day, to build a “technical barrier” several kilometres in length along its border with Slovenia. “The Commission has not been informed” said Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud, adding that Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann were due to discuss this issue in the afternoon.
On Wednesday, Austrian Home Affairs Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said that the government intended to erect a fence along the border with Slovenia to slow the flow of migrants. Both countries are members of the Schengen area. Until now, only Hungary had constructed barriers between itself and other EU member states - Croatia and Romania - but these two are not Schengen states. The Austrian minister said that the structure was not being built to close the border but to establish order. She also said that at the Spielfeld border crossing, “we have between 3,000 and 8,000 entering Austria every day”. On 16 September, Austria temporarily reintroduced border controls, which are deemed not to breach the Schengen borders code. The controls were extended on 15 October for a further period of 20 days.
The announcement by Vienna comes three days after the mini-summit at which discussion was devoted to the Balkan route (see EUROPE 11419), and which sought to end unilateral decisions being taken by the countries involved and for them to share information on how the situation was developing on a weekly basis. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)