Austria Extends Checks on Border with Slovakia as Well

Austria will extend the period of temporary checks on its border with Slovakia by 20 more days, i.e. until October 28, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced on Thursday. The Czech Republic announced the same step on Wednesday. According to Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan, the resumption of the checks has already brought results. "The trend of recent days shows that the rate of illegal migration on the Czech soil has started to go down," he claimed. Rakusan reiterated that the measure is not a step designed against the Slovak Republic and that Prague and Bratislava have been discussing the situation. Slovak Police Corps chief Stefan Hamran stated following a session of the Security Council on Wednesday that he would appreciate it if Slovakia could send as many police officers as possible to the Hungarian-Serbian border, noting, however, that the police first need to "straighten up staff numbers" in the corps, which have been long undermanned.