ROME -- The spotlight is on the meeting between the Italian and Austrian interior ministers, Angelino Alfano and Johanna Mikl-Leitner, that was set to take place in Rome on Friday, after the Austrians reportedly said they were on the verge of closing the border and the Brenner Pass altogether. In a statement by Mikl-Leitner she expressed concern over the growing number of migrants, predicting that it would rise from the record number of 150,000 landing in Italy last year, via the Mediterranean, to 300,000 in 2016. A highly possible scenario now that they have locked down the Balkan route. A spokesperson for a large number of the EU executives has said, "Austria wants to throw everything up in the air for a reason of internal politics? We won't let them." Meanwhile Germany has responded strongly saying that, "a blockade cannot be the solution," with Bavaria promising to help Italy. The Italian Foreign Ministry has spoken out saying that it sees the proposed closing of the border as, "an excuse to avoid redistribution." ch