Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz will assume the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1 and has vowed to make migrants claim asylum before entering the bloc that suffering from the migrant problem. That is why on Tuesday, hundreds of Austrian police cadets and soldiers have carried out an exercise on the Slovenian border over fears of a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis, Mail Online reported.
Sebastian Kurz, the youngest ever Austrian leader, support the hardline policy regarding migrants. On Tuesday, he ordered to stage the exercise for soldiers, two Black Hawk helicopters hovered over the border on Tuesday as police cadets played the role of migrants standing at gates asking to be allowed in.
More than 500 police officers and 220 soldiers took part at the border crossing of Spielfeld as hundreds of migrants crossed the Mediterranean, causing conflict between EU states as each refused to take another boatload in.
“A state which can’t protect its borders when needed loses its credibility,”
said Austrian interior minister Herbert Kickl, who oversaw the exercise along with defence minister Mario Kunasek.
Austria, Italy: tough anti-migrant measures are taken
Both Kunasek and Kickl are members of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), which became the junior partner last year in a coalition government under conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
That policy echoes the position of Italy, which has started turning away migrant vessels and proposed setting up processing centres in Libya and other countries of origin. After resultless summit between EU leaders on Sunday, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel became locked in a struggle with her hardline government coalition partners that threatens to topple her government. No progress on tackling the migrant crisis made governments of Austria and Italy take responsibility for unpopular anti-migrant actions.
While Austrian police are training for the possible migrants standing at gates asking to be allowed in, Italy just refuses to dock the ships with refugees from North Africa.
