Italy’s furious response forces Austria to back-pedal after Vienna sends tanks to border
AUSTRIA has played down a dispute with Italy over possible controls at their shared border as Rome struggles to deal with a surge of migrants entering from Africa.
By ALIX CULBERTSON
Express.co.uk
Wed, Jul 5, 2017
Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil sparked the battle on Tuesday after saying he expected controls at the border with Italy to be introduced “very soon”.
Four armoured vehicles were sent to the province which includes the Brenner Pass, a gateway for Italy to important trading partners such as Germany.
An Austrian ministry official also confirmed 750 troops were ready to be deployed to the area.
Italy summoned Austria’s ambassador to Rome over the comments, but Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said Rome had misunderstood its intentions for any future influx of migrants.
He said: “One must clear up misunderstandings like the ones that have evidently arisen with Italy.
“We are not deploying tanks at Brenner and I can emphasise again that cooperation with Italy is really good.”
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