Austria said Thursday it is not going to build a wall at the Brenner Pass to keep asylum seekers out. "There is not going to be a wall or barriers, as has been mistakenly reported," Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said after meeting with his Italian counterpart, Angelino Alfano. "If necessary, there will be controls". Alfano said "we have so far averted a crisis and the closure of the Brenner Pass". Asked if it was definitive, he said "We have to work on it".
Italy opposed the idea of Austrian police checking train passengers on the Italian side of the border, Alfano said. "We said no to that," Alfano said. He added his ministry has requested more police and soldiers to "control (asylum seeker) flows and road and rail routes to the Brenner Pass". He added Austria "is not going to build a wall" and that Italy "will prove to Austria it is wasting money" on the barrier it is setting up at the Brenner Pass. "Preparatory (barrier-building) will continue in case an extraordinary flow (of asylum seekers) were to reach Austria," Alfano said. He also announced the two countries signed a deal for their respective border police to communicate on a daily basis.
Also on Thursday, the European Commission said it is concerned over Austria's plans to introduce border controls. "The European Commission follows all the developments in Europe that go against the schedule to return (to the normal functioning of the Schengen agreement), in this case with serious concern," said EC spokesperson Mina Andreeva, adding that EC President Jean-Claude Juncker will meet Italian Premier Matteo Renzi in Rome next Thursday. "The Commission will evaluate any measures decided or announced by the Austrian government on the criteria of need and proportionality". Renzi said Thursday that Austria's idea of introducing controls at the Brenner Pass to stop it being overwhelmed by asylum seekers, possibly with the help of a fence, is "flagrantly against European rules".
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