Austrians greet opening of border with roadblocks

Leaders of Austrian towns close to the Hungarian border are trying to create administrative and physical obstacles on roads connecting the two countries, fearing negative consequences when Hungary joins the Schengen open-border zone. At the same time, on the Hungarian side, the border stations are being dismantled. Hungary and eight other EU member states will join the zone that allows passport-free travel across borders on December 21.

According to Magyar Hírlap, the mayor of the Austrian village of Mörbisch (Hungarian: Fertőmeggyes) and local, influential restaurant owners are not happy that the borders will soon open. The business leaders fear that they will suffer losses if their patrons can freely cross the border to Hungary and spend some of their money there.

The mayor of Fertőrákos, the Hungarian village across the border, believes the leader of the Austrian settlement is driven by envy. János Palkovics said that while the public is being informed about this conflict only now, it has been ongoing for a long time. He pointed out that when a new bicycle path that connects the two countries was opened, businesses that live on Austrian tourists were protesting loudly. Since then, it has turned out that they benefited from Hungarian tourists visiting their establishments. Palkovics added he felt it was insulting that the mayor of the neighboring Austrian village refused an invitation to a celebration to be held at the border when it opens.

Attila Papp, mayor of nearby Harka, said he had started discussions with the other side of the border, but expressed his disappointment over the fact that most Austrian villages are putting up traffic signs to limit free movement.

Zsira Mayor Árpád Dorogi pointed out that the thermal baths of the Austrian village of Lutzmannsburg (Hungarian: Locsmánd) are a mere 50 meters from the border. This means that "the dear neighbors had drilled under us for the thermal water and built the baths on a common water base, yet they are complaining that in the future, the guests of the baths will use services in Hungary as well." He said another source of conflict might be an Austrian-owned golf course built on the Hungarian side of the border. The area is being rented from Zsira, and the Austrians are now planning to close the road they built to Hungarians and only allow its use to Austrians.

The saddest situation has developed in the vicinity of the Hungarian town of Sopron. Nearby Austrian villages are reportedly building physical obstacles to limit movement between the two countries.

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