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The European Union risks disintegrating if it fails to respond to its worst migration crisis since World War II collectively, its top foreign policy chief warned in an Italian daily Thursday, AFP reports.
Federica Mogherini said that if the EU merely relied on national responses to a European issue, "the crisis will get worse, with chain reactions from public opinion and national governments".
To prevent this, she told the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper, the bloc needed to be equipped with "instruments up to the challenge" without which, she warned, "there is the risk of disintegration".
The comments came a day after Austria announced plans to build a fence at a major border crossing with fellow EU state Slovenia to "control" the migrant influx.
The move would be a blow to the bloc's cherished passport-free Schengen zone.
After hastily arranged talks between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, the two issued a statement stating that "fences have no place in Europe".
