Two Austrian soldiers patrol along the Slovenian-Austrian border during a visit of Austrian Minister of Defense Hans Peter Doskozil at a temporary camp at the Slovenian-Austrian border, near the village of Spielfeld, Austria, January 29 2016. | Marija Kanizaj/EPA Austria to tighten controls at Italian border Vienna plans checks at mountain crossing.

Austria plans to introduce checks at its border with Italy as the government presses ahead with its hard line on migration.

"We need to monitor the situation and then to take the necessary steps, but we are preparing ourselves," said Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner on Tuesday.

No date was set for the introduction of border checks, but Austrian Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil demanded swift action: "I think that we need to close down the Brenner route as soon as possible."

Brenner is a mountain pass through the Alps along the Italy-Austria border and a major north-south highway for freight and tourist traffic.

Doskozil said he believes the Brenner crossing will need registration and control systems similar to the ones at the border with Slovenia in Spielfeld. These include extra inspections of the thousands of trucks passing through the crossing each day. In Spielfeld there are barriers to manage large crowds and a fence roughly 4 kilometers long.

Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday urged refugees on the border with Macedonia to move to refugee camps in Greece. He said there was no chance that Western Balkan countries would reopen their borders to migrants again anytime soon. "We will work together to accelerate to bring you legally to Europe," he said.