Austria closes half of its border crossings to Hungarian cars

Burgenland, the closest province of Austria to Hungary closed 35 of its 60 border crossings to both motorbikes and automobiles, reports Index referring to Heute.at. They say that the border is not truly closed, anyone can pass it on foot, by bicycle, by agricultural vehicles and even with horses.

Burgenland decided to close its passages because they want to reroute the traffic to more frequent crossings. The intense traffic caused mainly by the commuting Hungarians disturbs the locals, so that is why they decided to close these roads.

They either put concrete blocks or their own signs to the roads in order to regulate the number of cars in the area.

This regulation is not a recent phenomenon at all; however, signs are prohibiting the crossing of the borders at this point. Those, who still break the rule can even be fined.

The cost of this penalty can reach 2180 euros.

The original article mentions that the Federal Government of Vienna extended border control to its borders with Hungary and Slovenia by six months, until May 2019. The control was enacted in 2015 – temporarily overriding the Schengen Agreement – due to the refugee crisis.

Source: index.hu