Road in Austria closed with concrete barrier because of commuters from Hungary

A road in Austria's Burgenland region used by Hungarians commuting to work in the neighbouring country has been blocked by a concrete barrier. Just a few kilometres past the border crossing at Sopron, the exit to the left takes one towards Klingenbach (Kelénpatak) while the one to the right towards Siegendorf (Cinfalva). Or rather it used to, because the town council of Klingenbach had had enough of the increasing traffic and appealed to the province to close the road. As the Austrian regional press reported, they made no secret of the reason:

they took action because of the Hungarian commuters.

The purpose of the closure is to reduce traffic from Hungary. Since the small border crossing between Ágfalva and Schattendorf was closed almost two years ago – also following a decision of the local council – commuters have been looking for alternative routes. And they will likely continue to do so, since their number continues to grow, with thousands of commuters driving to work from the Sopron region to Austria every morning.

The decision was taken by the Klingenbach council in the summer, but the province was needed for its implementation. The ramp made of concrete appeared at the exit ramp a few days ago, and this had an immediate effect: there has been even more congestion in the mornings around the Sopron crossing.

After the crossing point at Schattendorf was closed, many Hungarians took a shortcut towards Klingenbach to avoid congestion. But the Austrian village obviously didn't like this, which is somewhat understandable – nobody wants to wake up to the sound of cars passing under their window at 4 am. Meanwhile, commuters are justifiably worried that, after Schattendorf and Klingenbach, more Austrian villages will be closing their roads before them.

And as for how realistic this is, lawyer Dr. Máté Ruzicska, says that even one case sets a precedent, let alone two. Ruzicska and a team of lawyers from the international law firm NZP Nagy Legal were the ones who initiated an action for compensation against the Republic of Austria for introducing illegal border controls. This is because Austria introduced "temporary" border controls on its border with Hungary in 2015, thus causing commuters to lose both time and money. Getting money was not the goal, they simply wanted to create a legal basis.

In the case against the Republic of Austria regarding the border controls, the court took the position that "the border controls are not entirely unlawful" and therefore dismissed the case.

In the case against the municipality of Schattendorf, the lawyers also brought an administrative liability case against the local council of Schattendorf over the closure of the crossing, which concluded with a similar opinion before the same judge, but an administrative appeal is still ongoing.

Advocating for the interests of the commuters would require political will but there seems to be no willingness to do so, or if there is, it is not being done before the public. In fact, Hungary would certainly be able to enforce EU law – which, according to legal experts, Austria is violating with these closures – much more effectively at the European level.