Bad news for people heading to Austria: the country plans to extend internal border controls with Slovenia and Hungary for a further six months from mid-May, when the current measure expires.
Why is border control necessary?
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced the news during a visit to the Slovenian border at Spielfeld. According to him, the measure is necessary to prevent illegal migration and people smuggling, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
Austria initially introduced internal control at its borders with Slovenia and Hungary in 2022 and has been extending the restrictions ever since, Travelo writes.
The last extension occurred in November 2023. Back then, Austria decided to maintain border controls between the two countries until May 2024. Minister Karner pointed out at the time that the internal border controls had already proved effective. He added that smugglers no longer chose his country as their route or main destination.
The latest measures and the increased pressure on the borders are having an effect, and human traffickers are already avoiding Austria,
SchengenVisaInfo quoted Gerhard Karner as saying.
Slovenia is against Austria’s decision
While Austria says that internal border controls are necessary to prevent illegal migration and people smuggling, Slovenia opposes the extension of the measure, arguing that the internal border controls that Austria has applied for years are not in line with EU law.
As internal border controls often cause delays even for EU citizens, Slovenia has called on Austria to end this measure. Despite this, the latter decided to maintain internal border controls until mid-November.
In addition to these two countries, Austria currently maintains internal border controls with the Czech Republic.
The Czech Minister of the Interior, Vít Rakusan, stressed that the controls that Austria continues to maintain have a minimal impact on cross-border movement and cause little, if any, inconvenience to Czech citizens crossing the border.
Slovenia also prolonged border control on the Hungarian border
As we reported last December, the Slovenian government decided to prolong strict border control on their borders with Hungary and Croatia. The extension lasts much longer than any of the previous ones: until 22 June 2024. The same extension applies to the Slovenian-Croatian border.
In December, Ljubjana said the reason behind the decision was the dangerous Middle East and Ukraine situation and the terrorist attacks committed in different EU member states. Authorities say terror danger is high in Slovenia, and if something menaces one Schengen member, it means the zone is under threat. They added that illegal migration increases security risks in the region.
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