ROME -- After Austria’s announcement yesterday that they are considering shutting the Italy-Austria border at the Brenner Pass the European Union have warned them that they are threatening Schengen and will support Italy all the wat.  The Minister for Internal Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos has said that, “We will send a formal letter.  Italy has our support with Frontex.”

 Vienna is currently building a 1.1 million euro barrier across the border at the Brenner Pass that is due to be completed at the end of May.  This is on top of measures already put in place to limit the number of migrants they will take each year, causing a blockage at the Italy-Austrian border that the Austrians have warned will turn the Tyrol into a “waiting room.”  They have also said that if Italy doesn’t start managing the migrant flow better and sending people away, they will close the border entirely “as a last resort.”

 At a press conference in relation to the Austrian barrier Avramopoulos spoke out saying, “My line is clear: we don’t need politics that bring about the closure of a border, because this puts Schengen at risk.”  Talking about the free circulation of people he said that “unilateral initiatives like this one” end by attacking those principles.

 Avramopoulos also called on “Minister Mikl-Leitner to explain what they are doing and why.  I’m waiting from one moment to the next.  We will also send a formal letter.”  He continued, “It’s not the right response to these problems, I hope that this decision isn’t implemented and that dialogue will prevail.  We need to do all we can for Schengen to return to normal by the end of the year.  The 28 [member states] must keep to their commitments.  From the moment they do, when each decision is made from there, we won’t have any problems between the States.”

 “Italy has our support and will continue to have it.  We are reading to increase the presence of Frontex on the coast, if necessary,” he finished.  The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni responded to Austria’s threats by saying that the closure of the borders “would be a terrible signal for all of Europe.  We will see what it is about.  If they are talking about walls it will be serious, because that would give the impression that they are forgetting that we need to confront these problems together and certainly not, as the president of the Republic reminded up, erect walls.”

 At the same time, Angela Merkel’s government in Germany has announced the inclusion of the country’s first “integration law” that will create new job centres to help migrants enter into the job market, as well as measures to help facilitate integration.  These include obligatory integration courses and the speeding up of access to refuge.

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