Border controls with Slovakia-Austria are extended

Border controls have been extended to Slovakia again. With this move, Austria follows neighboring Czech Republic, which announced on Thursday that it would also extend identity checks at the border with Slovakia.

Like the Czech Republic, the Interior Ministry announced in a broadcast on Friday that Austria would initially extend controls for 15 days. The controls had been in place since September 29 and were supposed to expire on Friday.

The Czech Republic has already announced that it will extend controls for another thirty days after the fifteen-day period ends. The Austrian Ministry of the Interior has not yet made any announcement in this regard. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) said: “Border control with Slovakia is still necessary, otherwise criminal smugglers will react immediately and change their ways. We will not allow this dirty business and we will continue to fight the smugglers mafia constantly.”

During border control operations with Slovakia, which have been in force since the end of September, the police arrested a dozen smugglers – this year there are already more than 500 smugglers throughout Austria. Border control operations are carried out in close coordination with the Czech Republic and the country. Slovak Interior Ministry.