A dispute between Germany and Austria flared up over the vast numbers of Syrian migrants moving across central Europe. Germany and Austria have recently agreed to manage the flow of migrants as a response to cope with the entry of nearly 700, 000 refugees.
On Wednesday, Germany laid the blame on Austria for the uncontrollable influx of Syrians coming into the German border, even at night. Germany and Austria have arranged to manage the flow in an orderly way, Ft reports, but Austria has placed the burden on Germany to confront the crisis.
BBC reports that Germany has already received 222,000 applicants, having the highest number of new asylum applications than its neighboring countries. Germany remains to be most popular country to have been chosen by the migrants arriving in Europe.
Contradictory to the statement of Germany, Austria announced its plans to strengthen its borders with Slovenia by building fencelike structures that will serve as the first physical obstacles.
Thomas de Maizière, German interior minister, addressing the German- Austrian border, have held Vienna responsible for putting the German border authorities to bear the pressure of controlling the migrants, which is already settling at the German borders without any warning. He had also raised this concern to Chancellor Angela Merkel, after a cabinet meeting in Berlin.
Austria’s lack of coordination to control the migrants may open new options for Germany to reduce inflows. Horst Seehofer, the head of Bavarian sister party of Germany’s ruling Christian Democrats, has consistently compelled Ms. Merkel to drop her open door policy which was supposed to address the refugee crisis. The Chancellor has also been under pressure to consider options.
However, spokesperson, Steffen Seibert, has announced Germany’s opposition to border restriction, stating, “We don’t believe that this current . . . refugee crisis can be solved by building walls.”
Similarly, Austria’s Chancellor, Werner Faymann, also insisted that erecting fences will not happen in Austria.
With the current situation in Europe, the struggle to manage the influx of refugees still remains to be a crucial problem.
