The leader of UKIP-like Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) criticised the European Union (EU) for inaction, and demanded an immediate start to border fence construction.
Freedom Party of Austria leader Heinz Christian Strache visited the national border with Slovenia yesterday, joined by local FPÖ group leader Mario Kunasek to inspect the developing state of anarchy there. Witnessing the porous border where thousands enter Austria every day, Mr. Strache told attending journalists: “What we are witnessing here is outrageous”, reports Die Kronen Zeitung.
Holding Hungarian leader Viktor Orban up as an example of what can be achieved when a nation shows will and determination, Mr. Strache said he’d see a border fence built anywhere illegal migrants would try to enter the nation. As for cost, he said that border fences are “cheaper than illegal mass immigration”.
Criticising the government response to the migrant crisis, Mr. Strache said Austria was “almost a Banana republic” in terms of mismanagement, and in any case the national government had been reduced to nothing more than a “catering service” for passing illegal migrants.
Hungary found their first fence of rolled razor wire to be less than effective. A month-long project saw the construction of a true security-fence to replace it, completed last month / AP
Austria has today started to lay the first razor-wire fence along their border with Slovenia, but recent experiences in Hungary found these simple fences were easily cut or lifted by enterprising migrants. Hungary’s border only became secure when a 10ft high-security chain-link razor-wire topped fence was completed last month, blocking the whole border from Serbia and Croatia.
Even if it is a half-hearted attempt at protecting the nation, the razor wire fence is a remarkable U-turn for the Austrian government, which until recently refused to accept such a thing would be possible, and castigated the Hungarians as “Nazis” for building their own. Despite that, senior Austrian government figures including the chancellor and interior minister have refused to call it a border fence, preferring euphemisms like “technical measures” or “garden fence” instead.
Regardless, the fence being built was not to surround the country, or even close selected borders. “This is not about a border barrier of several kilometres”, said the chancellor.
This is not good enough, contends FPÖ leader Mr. Strache, who said it was too little too late. Speaking of Europe’s totally porous outer borders in Greece, Mr. Strache asked “what the EU for months at the external frontier” has been doing with itself. Steeling himself against accusations of cold-heartedness for wanting to build the fence, Mr. Strache pointed out to assembled journalists that only ten percent of migrants were Syrians fleeing conflict — “the rest are from more than 100 other countries”.
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