2023-04-27 13:21:54
Slovenia threatens Austria with retaliatory measures in the border control dispute. “All options are currently being examined in Ljubljana, including the introduction of border controls with Austria,” said Ambassador Aleksander Gerzina of the “Tiroler Tageszeitung” (Thursday edition). The top diplomat complained that the Austrian border controls had now been extended “for the 17th time”. “Slovenia can no longer accept this.”
It was only on Monday that the Slovenian President, Natasa Pirc Musar, during her first visit to Vienna, pushed for a solution to the conflict before the summer and expressed the fear of traffic jams in holiday traffic. Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen also expressed hope that border controls would end soon. In concrete terms, the previous “border point controls” might be replaced by “border area controls”, as practiced by Austria in relation to Italy or Slovakia.
Gerzina criticized that the Austrian approach to his country “contradicts the basic treaties and fundamental freedoms of the EU”. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has already recognized them as “illegitimate”. The migration figures would also not justify the controls.
Austria considers controls to be necessary
In the whole of last year, around 60 migrants were returned at the Slovenian-Austrian border, and “just 13” in the past four months. “At the border with Italy, where even a state of emergency was declared and the numbers are many times higher, Austria never introduced controls,” said the ambassador.
The Austrian government was unimpressed by the vehement appeals from the southern neighboring country. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) spoke on Tuesday of “increasing pressure on this side” with regard to Slovenia.
Therefore, “I consider it necessary to continue to maintain controls”. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) spoke negatively on the same day following a meeting with his Slovenian colleague Tanja Fajon in Rijeka, Croatia. Without going into detail regarding Slovenia, he lamented the “dysfunctionality” of the Schengen area and the fact that Germany also controls the border with Austria.
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