EU threatens to collapse if refugee crisis continues, fences have no place

The European Union is at risk of collapsing if the biggest migrant crisis since World War II is not resolved, warned Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

She said that if the EU relies solely on individual country responses, the crisis will worsen.

To prevent this, the European bloc needs to be equipped with "instruments at the level of this challenge," and without them, "there is a risk of disintegration" - Mogherini told the newspaper "Sole 24 ore".

These comments come after Austria announced plans to erect a fence on its border with Slovenia to control the influx of migrants. This move would deal a major blow to the system of borderless travel within EU countries.

President of the EC Jean-Claude Juncker and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann discussed and issued a joint statement that "fences have no place in Europe".