Germany extends refugee checks at border- Photo: internet
(VOVworld)- Germany has decided to extend temporary border controls until mid-February, its interior ministry said on Friday, as Europe's top economy faces a record migrant influx. Berlin, which expects as many as one million people fleeing war and poverty to arrive this year, began to implement temporary controls on September 13th. However, with the crisis showing no sign of letting up, Germany told the European Commission it would keep them in place until October 31st as "the situation at the border is such that Germany cannot do without them". Austria will build a 3.7-km (2.5-mile) fence either side of its busiest border crossing with Slovenia to help manage the flow of thousands of migrants a day onto its territory, senior officials said on Friday. It was the latest move by a country on Europe's main migratory corridor, stretching from Greece to Germany, to manage or curb the influx since hundreds of thousands started streaming into Austria and Germany two months ago, putting severe strain on the European Union's prized system of open borders.