Austria threatens to reinstate border controls if Germany turns back migrants

Austria has threatened to reinstate border checks if Germany resorts to turning away migrants at its southern frontier, as EU leaders prepare to gather in Brussels on Sunday for a "mini summit" to address the spiralling migration crisis. 

Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian chancellor, said he "would be ready and do everything necessary to protect our borders" if Germany's hardline interior minister Horst Seehofer pushed ahead with the plan. 

"That would mean securing the border on the Brenner [Pass] and other locations...[but] I want to help ensure it doesn't get that far," he added. 

It came as Austrian officials hinted at plans for an EU-Albania migrant centre deal that could help Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, cling on to power.

Mrs Merkel will lead the informal talks in Brussels ahead of a full EU summit this week where migration will again top the agenda.

The so-called Visegrad Four group - Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic - announced they would boycott the summit last week, and experts fear a breakthrough is unlikely even though Mrs Merkel's political survival may depend on it. 

Mr Seehofer has told Mrs Merkel he will close the southern border to migrants if she fails to find another solution by the end of the month.

His threat has set off alarm bells in Brussels as it could trigger a "domino effect" of border shutdowns across Europe that would undermine the EU's Schengen zone. 

Vienna suggested that Albania had been earmarked as a location for a European migrant centre. 

"After being saved, illegal migrants are to be halted and taken care of on the [EU] outside border, and then brought back to their countries of origin as soon as possible,” Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Austria's government spokesman, told German media.

Though Tirana denies holding such talks,  but Mr Kurz appeared to endorse the idea in an interview with German newspaper Bild.

“I will not mention any country right now, but it’s true that we are already working with Denmark, among others, to create safe areas outside of the EU, where we want to provide protection and care,” he said.

Albania's opposition alleges the government wants to open centres in order to accelerate Albania's accession to the EU, reports said.

The European Council denied that it had earmarked Albania as a site for a so-called "regional disembarkation platform", although a spokesperson told the Balkan Insight Reporting Network that it was "talking about possibly exploring this concept".

Last year, some 22,000 Albanians applied for asylum in EU countries, the fourth highest nationality after Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans. 

One of the poorest countries in Europe, an estimated 37 per cent of Albanians live in poverty, while 13 per cent are unemployed. 

The arrival of more than one million people in 2015, most fleeing conflict in Syria, exposed glaring deficiencies in EU migrant reception capacities and asylum laws.

It has fuelled tensions among member states, and anti-migrant parties have grabbed votes by fomenting public fears of foreigners.

At the heart of the problem lies deep divisions over who should take responsibility for arriving migrants - often Mediterranean countries like Italy, Greece and increasingly Spain - how long they should be required to accommodate them, and what should be done to help those EU countries hardest hit.

Leopold Traugott, a policy analyst with the Open Europe think tank, said a fresh government crisis in Germany would have “terrible consequences for Europe”.

“Germany's partners, particularly French President Macron, have waited for months and months to have a stable partner in Berlin to work with on the Eurozone and other reforms,” he said.

“A new domestic crisis in Germany would bring the European reform agenda to a halt again.”

On Saturday, hundreds of migrants were rescued by coastguards commercial vessels in the Mediterranean.

More than 400 migrants were rescued in three operations off the coast of Spain, according to the country's national rescue service.

In the largest of the operations, 262 people on 15 vessels were rescued in the Strait of Gibraltar, a spokesman for Spain's Maritime Safety and Rescue Society said.