Border control remains in effect at the Austrian border

Austria will extend its border control measures until November 15, Minister of Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner told the European Commission on Wednesday, alfahir.hu wrote.

Effective since September 16, Austria’s border control has been extended twice, on September 24 and again on October 19. The ministry justified the decision by saying that the safety of border crossers cannot be guaranteed without security checks due to the repeated arrival of refugees. The ministry also said that without border controls authorities cannot properly identify the thousands of entrants, thus weakening internal security. (SEE GALLERY from alfahir.hu)

According to EU rules, internal border control may be in effect for ten days and can be exceeded for a maximum of 60 days, but the European Commission must approve it.

The interior ministry said on Wednesday that 200 civil servicemen will be made available for relief organizations until the beginning of November, and will also provide an additional 1800 people in response to the refugee situation, if necessary. The state will bear the costs of the action, alfahir.hu wrote.