GETTY Austria is threatening to close the Brennan mountain pass border with Italy

FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Desperate Italian officials have said they are considering allowing thousands of migrants out of the country and into the rest of Europe, as they struggle to cope with the 10,000 people arriving every day. Austria, which shares a border with Italy via Brenner, an Alpine mountain pass, has reacted to the proposals with fury, saying it would immediately introduce border controls in the region. Yesterday during a border visit, Austria's Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said: "Italy granting humanitarian visas to migrants is unacceptable. In that case, we would immediately introduce controls in Brenner. "Humanitarian visas are a European issue, not Italian.”

Today he elaborated further on his government's possible response, in an interview with German newspaper Bild. He said: “If the number of illegal migrants towards Austria keeps rising we will close the border in Brenner. "Within 24 hours we can close the border and carry out strict controls with our soldiers". Italy has long complained it is being left alone to cope with the brunt of the refugee crisis with high numbers of migrants arriving on Italian shores, as the country marks an entry point to the EU on one of the most popular routes for people arriving from Libya.

GETTY Austrian soldiers could shut down the border in 24 hours of Italy giving visas to migrants

GETTY protestors clashed with riot police over the closing of the Italian-Austrian border last year

Deputy Foreign Minister Mario Giro said Italy is considering issuing 200,000 temporary migrant visas, allowing them to travel throughout the EU in a bid to force other countries to take note of the problem. Mr Sobotka said he wanted to "close the Mediterranean route" taken by thousands of refugees each day and added that "co-operation between the so-called rescuers and the trafficking mafia has to end".

GETTY Austrian Interior minister Wolfgang Sobotka has threatened to call in the army