Austrian presidential candidate warns refugee crisis could cause EU to collapse

Austrian presidential candidate Alexander Van der Bellen warned on Friday that the European Union could collapse as a result of the refugee crisis, adding that “a return to the old border fence proposal is ​​a big mistake which reflects the bloc’s fragility”.

“A serious institutional problem stands behind the refugee crisis which lies in the weakness of the European Commission and the European Council’s political weight,” an Austrian news agency reported him as saying.

“This situation confirms how some EU member states adhere to their national interests before the Union’s general interests which reflects its total disability,” he said.

“Europe’s situation today is similar to 1914 when World War I broke out,” he added.