Belgium would consider border closure if huge refugee influx occurs

Belgium would "certainly consider" temporarily closing its borders to refugees, the country's secretary of state for asylum and migration, Theo Francken, said in a Belgian radio interview on Monday.

Francken, from the Flemish centre-right N-VA party, made the remarks while speaking to Dutch-language public broadcaster Radio 1 after neighboring Germany announced on Sunday the reintroducing of border controls at border with Austria amid the ongoing migrant crisis.

"If that means that all of a sudden, they come to Belgium, then there is no alternative than to close the borders," Francken said in the radio interview.

"I understand the German decision. If we get into a similar situation, which is currently not the case, it is certainly to be considered," he said.

Interior ministers from across the European Union (EU) are gathering in Brussels Monday for an extraordinary meeting to discuss a quota plan to accommodate 160,000 asylum seekers.

Francken said that if several EU countries closed their borders, it would create "a cascade effect," putting extra pressure on other states within the Schengen area of free movement.

The minister, however, added, "I do believe in Schengen, because freedom of movement is economically a good thing. We as a nation benefit from Schengen, but should still apply logic when it comes to refugees."

In the past week, tens of thousands of refugees had taken the so-called Balkan route and arrived in Germany via Austria, many of them travelling by train to Munich.

Source: XINHUA