Region once seen as a symbol of Europe’s peaceful cohesion braces for Austrian effort to contain migration crisis

The border between Italy and Austria that runs through the Alpine Brenner pass has become almost indiscernible in the nearly 20 years since Europe did away with formal boundaries.



The beige building with brown shutters that used to house Austria’s border control is now a store that sells folk costumes – brightly coloured dirndl and lederhosen that are heavily discounted at this time of year. Just across the street, an American-style factory outlet shopping centre, with a Niketown and Lindt shop, is on Italian territory. A small snow-covered roundabout between them is half-Italian, half-Austrian.



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But now, locals on both sides are bracing themselves for the re-emergence of an old-style border – possibly including passport checks – in this historically sensitive region after Austria announced it would begin a new “border management” plan on 1 April.



The move is just one example of Austria’s increasingly tough response to the EU migration crisis, which last year saw the town of Brennero become a gateway from Italy to northern Europe for thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa. Austria received 85,500 applications for asylum in 2015, the third highest number of applications per capita in Europe after Hungary and Sweden.



Vienna’s decision risks turning this region, once seen as a symbol of Europe’s peaceful cohesion, into something far different: an emblem of the continent’s disintegration.



It also stands to stir deeply felt angst and antagonism among the majority German-speaking population in the South Tyrol region of north-eastern Italy, territory that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire but was annexed by Italy after the first world war. In the fascist era, Mussolini sought to Italianise the minority population – even phasing out German-speaking schools.



These days, after the area gained significant autonomy from Rome in the 1970s, South Tyrol’s peaceful integration in Italy is hailed as a model, with the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, often suggesting that Russia and Ukraine could learn from its example.



That was true as long as South Tyroleans – who have Italian nationality but see themselves as Tyrolean first – were not reminded of their separation from Austria on a daily basis.



“It is something that strongly touches us and is felt in the heart when we here see a a new border to the fatherland going up in this way,” says Martha Stocker, the provincial official in charge of migration and health.

“After the border opened, you didn’t have the feeling anymore that we were somehow boxed-in in this state and that we are another nationality. And now suddenly that we are closing it once more, one feels boxed-in again.”



Stocker is scrambling to understand what exactly Austria has in mind and to make contingency plans in the event that this area of northern Italy once again becomes a route for thousands of refugees.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A sign showing the way to the Austrian border in the Italian village of Brennero. Photograph: Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters

Sitting back in her chauffeur-driven black Mercedes as she races from one meeting to the next, Stocker readily admits that she has no idea what the Austrians mean when they talk about “border management”.

“Those are the expressions they are using and that can mean anything from movable traffic blocks to a fence,” she says, adding that she doubts the Austrians themselves have a concrete plan.



It is an issue that has become even more vexing given the sharp increase in migrant arrivals over recent weeks. According to IOM, about 15,000 migrants have arrived in Italy in the first three months of this year, an increase of about 50 per cent compared to the same period last year. In 2015, the vast majority of those migrants would have left Italy in the hopes of making it in northern Europe.

Franz Kompatscher, the mayor of Brennero, says he expects Austria will essentially set up roadblocks and pull over cars with suspected migrants, who would then be sent back to Italy. He also expects them to inspect lorries for stowaways.



Last spring and summer, Brennero was an active transit point for those who had landed by boat in southern Italy and made the journey north. For the most part, thousands did it unimpeded.



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But some did encounter checks on cross-European trains in Italy, which were patrolled by German, Austrian and Italian police working together.



Kompatscher says it is far from clear if those patrols on Italian territory were legal, adding that now Austria was preparing to move unilaterally to stop many more migrants at the border, Italy could make it more difficult for Austria.



“The big question mark still lies over the trains. The entire Brennero train station is on Italian territory. If the Austrians want to control the trains, the Italians will have to give their permission. I have my doubts about that,” says Kompatscher.



While Austrian border guards could probably board trains on Italian territory, they would not be able to begin checking IDs until they reached Austria, and would then have to process migrants in an Austrian location after Brennero station.



“Brennero is a village of 250 people. We can’t have a thousand migrants here. When it was just 400 or so it was already difficult. We had 27,000 last year but they were en route. If we have people stopped here that’s a different story,” he said.



He is also distressed by reports that Austrian and German officials are meeting to discuss plans about the Italian-Austrian border.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Republic of Austria border-crossing sign in the Italian village of Brennero. Photograph: Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters

“Yesterday I saw the regional head of Tyrol [Austria] and a top official in Bavaria were meeting and there wasn’t a word about South Tyrol, which was not a nice thing because these are actually our friends … if we are friends then actually there should be a different way of going about this.

“I understand that there is a problem, but they have to understand that we [also] have a problem,” he said.



An expert on migrant flows in the area, Monika Weissensteiner from the Alexander Langer Foundation, says much of what happens in coming months will depend on whether Germany accepts migrants crossing the border from Austria.



“If Germany says no, of course then Austria will block them and then you will have more people here, and they will change route, as it has been with all the other border closures we’ve seen,” she said.

“It makes the trajectory longer and more expensive, and makes it more likely that they [migrants] will pay people to get over the border – and then you have events like the 72 deaths in Austria last year,” she said.



Weissensteiner said she did not expect the issue to reignite a demand in South Tyrol for secession from Italy – the long-held wish of some extreme regional parties – but pointed out there was clearly fear among locals that the area could turn into a migrant hotspot, a new hub where refugees and migrants would wait until they were relocated.



“They talk about it being the next Calais or the next hotspot like in Sicily,” she said.

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But there is an irony that Weissensteiner can’t help but point out: if a fence was built along the Brennero border tomorrow (logistically impossible), more migrants would seek to make their way into Italy from Austria than the other way around.



She said it was a phenomenon that has received little attention so far. Hundreds of people, especially from Afghanistan, who entered Europe through the Balkan route, are trying to reach Italy for the first time, possibly because they could receive more lenient treatment there than Germany, which has declared Afghanistan to be safe. It is not necessarily a trend that will continue if more migrants arrive in southern Italy, which is likely, but has been pronounced since January.



For now, Kompatscher and other locals on the Italian side are more preoccupied by the economic impact on tourism and commerce if Austria started checking cars and lorries.



“If I have to lower my speed from about 100km/h to 20 or 30, there will automatically be traffic,” the mayor says, noting that lorries idling for half an hour to an hour on one of Europe’s most important transport routes would cost “millions”.



Roberto, an Italian-speaking Tyrolean and restaurateur who serves the local speciality of fresh garganelli pasta with speck – a typical Tyrolean dish that melds Austrian and Italian ingredients – said any crackdown by Austria would be “catastrophic for tourism”.

“For the economy it’ll be really bad. We saw that when they closed the border for brief periods last year – there were then fewer Germans coming. They’re our biggest customers, but they won’t come if it takes two to three hours of waiting in traffic,” he says.



At the dirndl shop a German saleswoman named Ute Penz, who left Germany for Austria 10 years ago for work, praised the move.



Looking out her window, she claims she sees migrants on the move everyday, though there were none visible during an interview with the Guardian. “It doesn’t bother me about the border. It’s not like they’re going to stop every car,” she says. “How are we going to keep paying for migrants? It costs money.”

She paused, and reflected on her own circumstances. “I also went to Austria for work, but I worked. Nothing was handed to me.”

