Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil told Austrian newspaper ‘Osterreich’ that 3 military battalions were ready to deploy in the state of Tirol in light of the refugee crisis. His new statements come a day after he told news outlets Saturday that tighter military border controls were necessary on the borders of Greece, Italy and Bulgaria to stem immigration flows. ‘If we need border reinforcements we will deploy more soldiers’, he said. The soldiers already assisting police forces on the orders will be assigned with patrolling the borderlines, registering immigrants, providing humanitarian aid and carrying out deportations. The Austrian politician called once more on the EU to provide political and military assistance to the Frontex border control units in Greece and wherever else necessary to seal of the EU’s exterior borders. Since the Balkan refugee route was sealed off the flows of refugees and illegal immigrants have substantially dropped, according to the German Foreign Ministry. Austria fears that new routes towards the north of Europe will open up through Albania or Bulgaria and predicts an increase in the flow of immigrants from Italy via Libya. Doskozil said he believes the central mediterranean route will be more active in the near future.