Austria 'pure propaganda exercise' on Brenner - Renzi

(ANSA) - Rome, May 4 - Austria's threat to build a migrant fence at the Brenner Pass "is tantamount to a pure exercise of propaganda, as the German foreign minister also said," Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday. "It is a dangerous operation because if plays with fear and when you play with fear you risk strengthening those who are good at evoking the ghosts of the past". Renzi said the Brenner Pass "is a symbol of friendship and dialogue and its closure is little more than a provocation that is part of the Austrian election campaign". The threat of building the border fence came amid a presidential election campaign that daw a rightwing populist candidate, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party, win the first round.