Extended border controls with Slovenia and Hungary are unlawful unless Austria claims a “serious threat”. This is what the European law expert Walter Obwexer from the University of Innsbruck points out in the “Tiroler Tageszeitung” (Saturday edition). Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) argues the controls with a “migration pressure” – but according to Obwexer that alone is not enough.
Although the people towed came mainly via Hungary, there was “increasing pressure on this side too,” Karner said on Tuesday morning at the presentation of the 2022 smuggler report. Therefore, “I consider it necessary to continue to maintain the controls”.
Obwexer, on the other hand, says: “Austria must assert a new serious threat. Simply referring back to migration is not enough. Then the new border controls would be illegal.”
“All options” checked in Ljubljana
According to Obwexer, the retaliatory measures threatened by the Slovenian ambassador were also illegal. “All options are currently being examined in Ljubljana, including the introduction of border controls with Austria,” said Ambassador Aleksander Gerzina to the “Tiroler Tageszeitung” (Thursday edition). But even here one cannot argue with a threat to internal security, according to Obwexer.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled last April that an EU country in the Schengen area may introduce border controls for a maximum of six months in the event of a serious threat to its public order or internal security. After that, proof of a new serious threat is needed. Austria does not seem to have proven this since 2017, according to the judgment.
