Ahead of planned talks between Austria, Bulgaria and the ministers from the Balkan states on Wednesday, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere slammed Vienna's actions, saying the decision to accept only 80 asylum seekers per day, while allowing 3,200 more to travel through to Germany, was sending "the wrong signal."
.@JunckerEU presser ahead of #EUCO "@EU_Commission is questioning whether decision by #Austria to cap daily number of refugees is legal."
— Mina Andreeva (@Mina_Andreeva) February 18, 2016
Vienna's decision to introduce caps on the number of people passing through the country has led to fears of bottlenecks along the Balkans, while it also goes against the German-led desure to keep EU borders open, whilst securing a bloc-wide agreement on refugee resettlement.
Not to mention hardening of Austria's stance on accepting refugees which has knock-on effect on Balkan nations
— Teacher Dude (@teacherdude) February 17, 2016
"It won't work if some countries think they can solve the problem by putting extra weight on Germany's back," de Maiziere told public broadcaster ARD, accusing Vienna of negligence in carrying out security checks on those being allowed to pass through.
"Even for security reasons, this is unacceptable. We won't allow this to continue long term," de Maiziere said.
The issue is expected to be the main topic of discussion at the EU interior ministers' meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
Germany Won't Accept 'Austrian Decision'
The asylum seeker cap, which de Maziere described as "an Austrian decision" needed to be changed, according to the interior minister.
"To say that 3,200 can continue towards Germany is the wrong signal […] The figure is much too high. We won't accept it and that's why we need to talk about this."
Austria's decision to introduce caps comes as a number of countries in the EU reintroduce border controls to better manage the migration crisis, leading to fears that the bloc's passport-free travel zone, known as the Schengen, could be scrapped.
A number of other member states, headed by Germany, have called for borders to remain open and for a common agreement on migrant resettlement to be reached, with Brussels negotiating a deal with Turkey that would seek Ankara's support to reduce the number of people leaving the country for Europe.
The inability to come to a common agreement is also increasing the pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with Berlin's open-doors approach to the migration crisis becoming increasingly unpopular at home.
