EU in crisis: Austria threatens to close border as Italy considers handing migrants visas

Tuesday, July 18, 2017
By Paul Martin

THE European Union is at breaking point as Austria threatens to shut its borders in response to Italy considering granting migrants visas to travel the bloc.

By REBECCA FLOOD
Express.co.uk
Tue, Jul 18, 2017

Austrian ministers have hit out over the Italian proposal, with the Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka branding the plans “unacceptable”.

Italy is considering issuing temporary visas to allow migrants to travel around the EU, in a calculated move intended to pressure its EU neighbours to do more to help ease the migration crisis.

But during a visit to the Austrian-Italian border, and a furious Mr Sobotka declared Austria would have no qualms in installing border controls at key locations.

He said: “Italy granting humanitarian visas to migrants is unacceptable. In that case, we would immediately introduce controls in Brenner.

“Humanitarian visas are a European issue, not Italian.”

Italy has long complained it is being left alone to cope with the brunt of the refugee crisis with high numbers of migrants arriving on Italian shores, as the country marks an entry point to the EU on one of the most popular routes for people arriving from Libya.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mario Giro said Italy is considering issuing 200,000 temporary migrant visas, allowing them to travel throughout the EU in a bid to force other countries to take note of the problem.

The Rest…HERE

Leave a Reply

Join the revolution in 2018. Revolution Radio is 100% volunteer ran. Any contributions are greatly appreciated. God bless!

Follow us on Twitter