EU outer borders to be defended by force if necessary: Austrian official

The European Union (EU) will need to use force to protect its outer borders if necessary, Austrian Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner said in an interview on Monday.

Speaking on the "Klartext" program of television station ATV, Mitterlehner said in light of the refugee influx that the EU must "if necessary show that a border is really a border."

This should however occur "as gently as possible" concerning the health and safety of the refugees, he added.

He also denied that use of force would be used as a deterrent strategy, saying that "violent scenes are not sought after, but are inevitable now and then."

In addition, he said the protection measures implemented at the Macedonian border have already prompted some refugees to question whether they could have waited in their home countries first.

Mitterlehner also would not give a guarantee that the Schengen agreement would exist in 2017, as while Austria wants it, he said one cannot be sure that the refugee crisis will have been solved by then. Endit