Austrian border barriers areborder barriers and migration management facilities constructed byAustria between November 2015 and January 2016 on itsborder with Slovenia and in 2016 on its border withItaly, as a response toEuropean migrant crisis. They are located on internalEuropean Union borders, since Austria, Italy, and Slovenia are members of the EU and the free travelSchengen Area with acommon visa policy. The barrier on the Slovenian border is several kilometres long, located near the busiest border crossing,Spielfeld-Šentilj, and includes police facilities for screening and processing migrants. Another migration management facility with barriers located on Austria's Italian border nearBrenner, South Tyrol was constructed in 2016.[1]
In February 2016, Austria initiated an agreement with Slovenia and otherBalkan countries to stop the flow of migrants fromGreece toCentral Europe.[2]
In November 2015, during theEuropean migrant crisis,Austria announced its intention to begin construction of aborder barrier on its border withSlovenia. The stated aim of the barrier is to help control the flow of refugees and migrants.[3] Both Austria and Slovenia are within theSchengen Area.
The fence will initially be built along 3.7 kilometres (2.3 miles) at the busiest crossing from Slovenia into Austria, nearSpielfeld.[4] According to Austrian Interior MinisterJohanna Mikl-Leitner, the barrier will be 2.2 metres high.[5] However, preparations will be put in place to enable the construction within 48 hours' notice of a fence along a 25-kilometre (16 mi) stretch of the border, if needed.[6] Construction began in early November.[7] The border barrier was finished in January 2016.[8]
In February 2016 Austrian Interior MinisterJohanna Mikl-Leitner announced that Austria will allow a maximum amount of 80 asylum applications in one day and a maximum of 3,200 asylum seekers who are allowed to cross the Austrian border if they apply in another country for asylum. If one of these two numbers is reached, Austria will close its borders. At the time of this announcement 200 people a day applied for asylum in Austria.[9]
The foreign ministers of Austria, Slovenia, and other Balkan countries met in Austria withoutGreece and agreed to reduce the flow of migrants intoCentral Europe and "sooner or later [...] to shut their doors entirely".[2]
Another migration management facility with barriers located on the Austria-Italian border nearBrenner, South Tyrol was constructed in 2016.[1]
Austria estimated that it would register 95,000 asylum claims in the first ten months of 2015, which is among the highest per-capita rates of migrant admittance within the European Union.[5]
The move came at a time of growing domestic pressure to restrict immigration.[5] In early November,Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of theFPÖ, sued ChancellorWerner Faymann, Interior MinisterMikl-Leitner, Minister of DefenseGerald Klug and theÖBB for alien smuggling and "failing to protect the country's borders" against the influx of migrants.[5]