European Migrant Crisis: Austria deploys troops at borders to deter migrant flows from Italy

Europe has started to feel the heat of the migrant crisis once again as the flow of migrants arriving on the shores of Italy got significantly increased. So far this year, almost 100,000 migrants have arrived in Europe from war-torn regions in the Middle East and North Africa and 85 percent of them have arrived on the shores of Italy. According to the report, smuggling gangs have been exploiting the chaos and violence in Libya to smuggle people into Italy as the shortest route from Libya to Italy is just about 460 km. United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) says that the flow has increased by 20 percent for the same time last year. In addition to that, it also reports that only 30 percent of the arriving migrants are fleeing conflict or persecution, while 70 percent of those arriving in Italy are economic migrants. Most migrants and refugees are young, single men with little or no education and almost 15 percent are unaccompanied minors. So far 101,000 migrants have entered Europe in 2017 via the Mediterranean and according to the latest figures, 2,247 people have died or are missing at sea.

The European migrant crisis began in 2013 with the arrival 59,241 refugees but that number increased to 216,054 in 2014 and reached a peak of more than a million in 2015. It has been declining since. While the flow of migrants increased in the first half of 2017, the European Union remains well divided over migrant quotas, which aims to resettle refugees across the bloc. Currently, the EU is fighting a legal battle with Hungary, Czech Republic, and Poland, which refuses to accept any migrants.

However, this resistance to migrants is not limited to just these three countries. In the wake of increased migrant flows, Austria announced that it is ready to re-introduce border controls and deployed troops and armored vehicles to block any migrant influx from Italy, which prompted an angry response from Italy which summoned Austrian ambassador to do the explanation. The refugee crisis is once again threatening to unbalance Europe and expose the deep flaws within.