Austria has begun barricading
its side of the Brenner Pass at the border with Italy, sources
said Monday.
Austria has repeatedly said it will not allow asylum
seekers in and that it fears an onslaught from Italy, which has
an open door policy to people seeking international protection.
Guardrails have been taken down and road signs will be
changed as a 250-meter barrier will cross both the highway and
the state road, Tyrolean Police Chief Helmut Tomac told the
Austria Press Agency (APA).
Traffic checks will take place in a parking lot north of
the border beginning at the end of May, with the interior
minister to decide the exact date.
Italian and Austrian interior ministers Angelino Alfano
and Johanna Mikl-Leitner said after talks in Rome Friday that
the two countries had agreed "to intensify bilateral and
operational collaboration in the monitoring and
control of the joint border with the strategic aim of
guaranteeing the fluidity of the Brenner Pass and safeguarding
the freedom of movement envisaged by Schengen".
Austria on Thursday threatened to shut the Brenner Pass if
migrant flows increased to "uncontrollable" levels and said
asylum seeker arrivals in Italy were set to double to 300,000
this year.
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