Update from the migration routes, 25. Oct 2015 - 00:00h

General Situation:

The movement within the "humanitarian" corridor is still possible. Although recent days showed again severe difficulties with providing infrastructure and an unneeded delay of transport at various points on the route. All this, while the temperatures are getting colder. Refugees have replied to these unbearable conditions with resistance, climbing fences of the green border in Berkasovo Bapska (SRB / CRO border) or burning tents in Brežice (CRO/SLO border). Today (Sunday, 25th of Oct) will be a EU meeting concerning the situation which might bring some new developments. Concerning the meeting's agenda, politicians of different states of the corridor have announced that they want to stop the "uncontrolled transit" of people. This does not necessarily mean the immediate closure of the borders. First of all this means that they demand a better organisation between the countries so it is easier for them to control the movement of the refugees (see here an analysis about the process from :: "humanitarian" corridor to corridor of control). Meanwhile Croatia already dispised this plan saying it is "not realistic" looking at the current amount of people entering its territory and that the only functional border control point would be at the Greece/Turkey border. This also basically sums up the current plans of the states of the "humanitarian" corridor. All of them want better control over the situation, basically because all of them are afraid their country will end up with too many refugees in case of a sudden closure of the Austrian, Slovenian or German border. All of them agree that they want to move the main border control to the outside border at the Greece/Turkey crossing but it is yet unclear when/how they can make this happen – it is also strongly related to diplomatic relations to the Turkish state and questions of power and EU membership status within these relations.

Austria

It is still possible to enter Austria, although conditions at the main bordercrossing Spielfeld are worse than in the recent days due to missing infrastructure. The Interior Minister showed the true face of Austria's authorities when she openly announced on Friday that the EU needs to build up the "Fortress Europe" to deal with the current situation. At the same time, the Exterior Minister said that he does not generally oppose to the idea of builing a border fence in case Germany would close its borders.

At the smaller bordercrossing Bad Radkersburg, groups of 500 people each went over the border in the recent days at 9h and 14h. For the coming days, authorities said they do not expect larger border crossings anymore but that the corridor will be almost completely concentrating on the Spielfeld border crossing. On Saturday 24. Oct around 7000 people crossed from SLO to AUT at Spielfeld. People continue to be transported from there by busses to temporary shelters, there's also special trains going from Graz train station where volunteers are present to support the people. Recent days also showed that various people were successful in travelling further north on their own within the normal train system if they had a valid ticket. Many people also take Taxis from the austrian border. Please note: Like at a lot of places within the corridor system, also in Austria there's Taxi drivers who charge a horrendous amount of money for trips that should cost less. Also there were incidents of people getting dropped out of the Taxi at a different place from where they wanted to go. So if you consider taking a taxi, try to contact supporters on the spot, they might be able to point you to trustworthy drivers or tell you how much the trip should cost.

Germany

In recent days rumors of the new german asylum laws made the rounds, so here is a quick summary: The new laws do not directly affect the situation at the border crossing but they strongly affect the asylum process later on. Basically the new laws include cuts of material aid for refugees, longer stays in first receptions centers and some legal tools to facilitate deportations. Additionally, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro were classified as "safe countries of origin" so as to as well further facilitate deportations to these countries. Rumors of the army participating in these deportations were so far denied by army officials. For more detailed information get in contact with legal aid if you plan to post or already have posted an asylum claim in Germany (see contacts in the :: w2eu webguide).

Source :: live.w2eu.info, 25. Oct 2015.