Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz assured the public that Balkan countries will be there to stop migrants if they manage to push through the Greek border. Thousands of migrants are pushing against Greek border guards on the Marica/Evros river for days now, after Turkey gave up on policing the border.

Kurz said that, unlike the 2015/16 crisis, the Greek Government is now actively working to stop the flow of migrants, and even if it fails “we are in close contact with our friends in the Western Balkans and they are ready to protect their own borders”. Macedonia stopped the 2015/16 crisis when it closed its border with Greece, along with the Turkish moves to prevent the migrants from reaching the Greek islands.

And even the Balkan countries fail, Kurz said, the Austrian police will seal its borders to prevent a repeat of the crisis.