The Middle East has been beset by war for many years now. Because of these wars refugees are being forced from their homes and seeking a new start,  especially in Europe as of late. These events have forced civilians to seek refuge, desperate for help. The most recent of these influxes of refugees has forced  Austria to close it borders to Syrian refugees, who continue to seek a better and safer life.

For the last few months,  Austria has opened their borders to refugees seeking protection and better living conditions, however in the last few weeks things have changed. Due to the risk of terrorism and the lack of jobs for these new civilians, the government decided to close their borders, not for lack of empathy but for lack of resources.

The Austrian government made this decision simply because they can no longer afford the refugees. Up until a few months ago they were accepted as well as been supplied with help with their financial needs through government programs and their own economy. Recently, however, Austria has been overwhelmed with all of the refugees’ needs causing new problems within their own country.

According to NBC News, the Austrian finance minister, Hans Jorg Schelling, says that the government is willing to take extreme measures to make the country seem “less attractive”. They’ll do this by possibly making cuts to welfare and reducing minimum wage. The Austrian government says that ‘’ we cannot accept anymore asylum seekers’’.

At the rate that the refugees are coming in it is predicted that there will be about 127,000 by the year 2019, which will no longer be the case after Austria closes off its borders.

This choice is not very highly supported by its neighboring countries, as many of them see this as a selfish act. The countries that weren’t supportive of the choice they made were Italy and Germany, as they were very disappointed with their neighbors. Regardless, Austria has closed its borders to Syrian refugees, and only time will tell how it unfolds from here.