Originally border controls were planned to end on November 11th. However, the situation is not yet stable and the number of people illegally entering Austria is high, stated Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl in a note addressed to the European institutions.
As data published by the Austrian press agency APA shows, the number of asylum seekers in Austria has been constantly decreasing since the record year of 2015. From January to August this year, authorities received 9,337 applications, half seen during the same period in 2017. Austria first introduced border controls in 2015 after 46,144 people asked for asylum in the first eight months of the year.
By keeping the controls, Austria wants to prevent a repeat of the 2015 situation, wrote Minister Kickl and pointed out that 10,000 immigrants have entered Bosnia and Herzegovina illegally this year. Also, an increasing number of immigrants coming to Europe through Turkey and a latent terror threat are worrying, added Kickl.
