Migration: Austria controls Slovakian border

by time news

ÖAustria will check its border with Slovakia next Thursday to intercept possible people smugglers. It follows the example of the Czech Republic, which also recently reintroduced border controls. The Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner justified the decision on Wednesday with the Czech measures. “We have to react before the smugglers react,” Karner said on ORF radio.

In any case, Austria has been controlling its borders with Hungary and Slovakia since 2015, with soldiers from the Federal Army also providing assistance. A possible alternative route from Hungary runs via Slovakia and then the Czech Republic to Germany. This could now be made more difficult by the Czech controls announced on Tuesday. The Ministry of the Interior in Vienna also wants to make it more difficult to repeat the alternative route Slovakia-Austria-Germany through the controls to Slovakia.

“We have already taken extensive measures on the border with Hungary and Slovenia,” said Karner. “Now the police will also check the border with Slovakia. We have to be faster than the smugglers. The focus remains on combating organized smuggling crime.”

First and foremost, so-called tractor vehicles, “these are mostly white vans”, are checked at the borders, Karner continues. The Austria Press Agency stated that Karner informed the Slovak Minister of the Interior Roman Mikulec about the planned measure on Tuesday.

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