Austria to extend border checks with Hungary, Slovenia

Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the nation plans to extend check at the borders with Hungary and Slovenia from May 11 by another six months.

FILE PHOTO: Austrian police officers attend an exercise to prevent migrants from crossing the Austrian border from Hungary in Nickelsdorf, Austria, July 2, 2020. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria plans to extend checks at its borders with Slovenia and Hungary by another six months from May 11, when the current six-month suspension of free travel over those boundaries expires, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told ORF radio on Tuesday.

"We will inform the European Commission in the coming days that we will have to extend these border checks," Karner said, adding that the continued suspension of the Schengen area's free-travel rules at those boundaries was necessary in order to fight illegal immigration.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Christopher Cushing)