Hungarian soldiers patrol the Hungarian-Serbian border at the Asotthalom border station with their Russian-made Mi-8 helicopters in February 2016 | Csaba Segesvari/AFP via Getty Images Austria sends troops to Hungarian-Serbian border Vienna wants to protect Europe’s external borders, fearing the EU-Turkey migration pact is near collapse.

Austria sent 60 troops to Hungary's border with Serbia Thursday, the AFP reported. Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil warned that the EU deal with Turkey was "showing cracks."

The Austrian soldiers will not be armed or involved in intercepting people who make it into Hungary after overcoming the fence, rolled out along its border with Serbia, the defense ministry said. Based near Szeged in southeast Hungary for an initial six months, they will help build roads and will offer other logistical support.

EU countries need to take border protection into their own hands because the EU-Turkey migrant deal signed in March is likely to collapse, Doskozil said.

Under the agreement, Turkey committed to taking back refugees from Greece, in exchange for funds and for visa-free travel in the EU for Turkish citizens. In addition, for each Syrian refugee taken back by Turkey, another one would be relocated in the EU, according to the pact, Brussels and Ankara signed in March.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu warned in an interview published Thursday that the deal will fall apart if the EU does not grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens in the coming months.

"We have a time window in Europe in which to organize ourselves" before the agreement collapses, Doskozil told Oe1 public radio on Thursday.

Authors: