Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz recently said that after accepting a quota of 37,000 refugees and closing the borders, Austria will send the police and military forces under the direct command of the Macedonian authorities to close the Balkan route used by refugees to get to Europe.
"That is what we do, and I believe that we have taken steps that Germany will still take as well," Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told Austrian newspaper Kurier.
The open-door refugee policy of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has become unpopular among the German population, and will soon force Berlin to take a tougher stance on the issue anyway, a number of experts said earlier.
According to Faymann, Turkey should play the decisive role in the resolution of the crisis and prevent migrants from the illegal crossing the EU's borders.
"I would also want the conclusion of an agreement between Greece and Turkey, providing for sending people back. That would be a signal that there it makes no sense to get on a boat, because one will be sent back anyway," Faymann said.
Earlier the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — together with Bulgaria and Macedonia — have called for the urgent closure of the Macedonian and Bulgarian borders with Greece to stop the refugees' inflow.
According to the latest Frontex data, about 1.8 million refugees entered the European Union in 2015.
