Three more European Union member states - Austria, the Netherlands and Slovakia - on Monday announced that they will reintroduce border controls for a temporary period in a desperate move to stem overflow of refugees.
The sudden move came shortly after Germany reinstated border controls on its border with Austria. The move is a huge setback to EU's Schengen System of "passport-free" travel.
"If Germany carries out border controls, Austria must put strengthened border controls in place. We are doing that now," Austrian Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner told reporters, according to Express.
"The focus of the support is on humanitarian help. But it is also, and I would like to emphasise this, on supporting border controls where it is necessary," Austria Chancellor Werner Faymann said.
Austria reintroduced border controls on its border with Hungary and deployed more than 2,000 troops while Slovakia reinstated border checks on its borders with Hungary and Austria, reported the Irish Times. Hungary has already closed down its border crossing with Serbia.
EU interior ministers held an emergency meeting on Monday in Brussels to discuss the unprecedented migrant crisis. The meeting failed to yield any positive results as eastern European countries vehemently opposed the EU's plan to introduce a compulsory refugee quota, according to Independent.
"We did not find the agreement we wanted. The majority of member states are ready to move forward. But not all," EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters, according to the Cyprus Mail.
