Vienna, Oct. 3, (dpa/GNA) – Austria is joining Poland and the Czech Republic in introducing checks along its border with Slovakia, in response to an increase in irregular migrants entering the European Union.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said Tuesday that for the next 10 days Austria would also control the border to Slovakia in order to prevent the emergence of an alternative route.
“We have to disrupt the traffickers’ business with full force,” the politician from the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced on X that his country would introduce checks along its border with Slovakia in response to the uptick in irregular migration.
The new temporary measures, in which people crossing the 250-kilometre border will be subject to random checks, are to take effect early on Wednesday, he wrote.
“We are not taking this lightly and are reacting rapidly to the situation that has arisen,” Fiala said. He described the move as acting to counter people traffickers.
Poland has also instituted stricter controls along its border with Slovakia, on the grounds that migrants are reaching EU territory over the Balkan route.
In Germany, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser last week announced “additional flexible checks on trafficking routes on the border to Poland and the Czech Republic.”
The states are all members of the Schengen free travel area that takes in most of the European Union and a few other countries. Schengen rules allow for the temporary imposition of border controls.
GNA