German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she would do her utmost to defend free travel within the European Union after several members of the bloc tightened their border policies in response to a huge migrant influx.

    "I will do all that is possible so that problems are solved in ways other that through border closures," Merkel said in reference to tensions between Italy and Austria over a Vienna threat to close the Brenner Pass frontier.

    Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, at a press conference with Merkel in Rome, said a Brenner closure would be "wrong and anachronistic" and fumed at comments made by Austrian far-right presidential candidate Norbert Hofer.

    In a Thursday interview with Italian daily La Repubblica, Hofer compared Renzi and Merkel to people who smuggle migrants across the Mediterranean, saying their alleged open-door policies were encouraging more arrivals.

Source: QNA