Austria to build fence at major border

Austria announced plans on Wednesday to build a fence at a major border crossing with fellow EU state Slovenia to "control" the migrant influx, in a blow to the bloc's cherished passport-free Schengen zone.

Both countries have become key transit points for tens of thousands of refugees and migrants seeking to reach northern Europe ahead of the winter, and before more potential EU border closures.

Vienna's announcement prompted sharp criticism from Berlin, underlining how the crisis is straining relations within the EU.

The Schengen passport-free area is seen as one of the EU's most important achievements and the Commission has repeatedly expressed concern that reimposing border controls threatens its future.

"We do not believe that the current migrant crisis that Europe is facing can be resolved with the building of fences or walls," German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

EU officials said they were not told in advance of Austria's plan, and in a sign of the sensitivity of the development, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker held hastily arranged talks with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann.

Afterward, the two men issued a statement apparently seeking to stress common ground.

"The president and the chancellor repeated their common position that fences have no place in Europe," the statement said.

Just days ago, Juncker and other EU leaders at an emergency Balkans summit warned that "unilateral actions could trigger a chain reaction".

Slovenia - another Schengen country - also reiterated its readiness to erect a fence along its Croatian frontier if new EU plans aimed at improving the situation failed to produce quick results.

In a further blow, Germany announced it was extending border controls until Nov 13, and possibly for another three months after that.

Berlin brought back border controls in September as a check on the overwhelming number of refugees entering the country, in what amounted to a de-facto suspension of its Schengen membership.

Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner insisted the proposed barrier was "not about shutting down the border," but "about ensuring an orderly, controlled entry into our country."

More than 700,000 people have landed on Europe's southern shores so far this year, the majority from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and divisions have opened up between EU states about how to deal with the crisis.

Nations along the migrant trail northward from Greece have been overwhelmed, and Hungary - an EU and Schengen member - has sealed its borders with razor wire to stop the flow.

The human cost of the crisis rose again on Wednesday as at least 10 people, including seven children, died when four migrant boats sank off the Greek island of Lesbos.