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Migrants stalled at Austrian border

Crisis straining relations in EU

VIENNA — Europe struggled Monday with traffic backups on Hungary’s border with Austria, stalled trains packed with migrants bound for Germany, and deepening policy confusion over the crisis — punctuated by a warning from Germany’s leader that the European open-border policy was at risk.

The Austrian police, struggling to slow the influx of immigrants from war-ravaged areas of the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa, began checking vehicles crossing from Hungary overnight, finding 200 migrants and arresting at least five people suspected of being smugglers.

Traffic stretched for miles on the Hungarian side of the border because of the traffic controls, but the Austrian authorities argued that they had no choice after the deaths of 71 migrants, including three children and a baby girl, whose decomposing bodies were found in a truck Thursday on a highway southeast of Vienna.

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The clampdown also extended to at least four Austria-bound trains carrying hundreds of migrants that were stopped at the Hungary-Austria border over what the authorities described as overcrowding, European news agencies reported. After several hours, two of the trains were allowed to proceed toward Vienna.

While thousands have drowned at sea trying to cross the Mediterranean, the mass deaths on the road in Austria shocked the Continent and reverberated around the world.

“We want to save lives and fight the criminal smugglers,” said Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Austria’s interior minister. Asked how long the controls would be in place, she said the time period was unlimited.

The disaster in Austria highlighted Europe’s muddled response to a mass migration not seen since the end of World War II, with thousands arriving daily. Most of the new arrivals are crossing from Turkey to Greece, Macedonia, and Serbia before entering Hungary and then heading to Europe’s wealthier northern countries — mostly to Germany.

The UN refugee agency says most of the migrants flooding Europe are refugees who should receive special status and should not be deported because they face persecution in their homeland. The rest are considered economic migrants, who are fleeing poverty or seeking better economic opportunities.

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The crisis has become a priority for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who told reporters Monday that Europeans must uphold principles of justice and human rights. She exhorted the European Union’s 27 other members to share the burden more equitably.

Otherwise, Merkel warned, the principle of unfettered movement among European Union member states, a freedom enshrined in what is known as the Schengen Agreement, would be endangered.

“If we don’t succeed in fairly distributing refugees then of course the Schengen question will be on the agenda for many,” Merkel said.

Hungary, however, accused Germany of creating new complications in the migrant crisis — and encouraging the influx — with what the Hungarians described as a relaxation of restrictions on Germany-bound refugees from Syria.

“The resulting confusion has often created unclear circumstances and situations which are difficult to manage,” said Zoltan Kovacs, a Hungarian government spokesman, arguing that Hungary was doing its part to uphold the integrity of Europe’s external borders.

Last Tuesday, Germany’s office for migration and refugees issued new guidelines for handling asylum applications from Syrians. Consequently, those fleeing Syria now have a strong chance of remaining in Germany, regardless of how they reached the country.

The change comes as German officials scramble to expand the infrastructure to speed up the handling of asylum applications, amid criticism they had ignored warnings and failed to prepare for the humanitarian crisis.

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