VIENNA, Rajab 20, 1437, April 27, 2016, SPA -- Austria outlined plans on Wednesday to erect a fence at a border crossing with Italy that is a vital link between northern and southern Europe, escalating a stand-off between the two states over how to handle a migration crisis, according to Reuters. Migrants are crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to Italy in growing numbers and Austria has said Rome must stop them travelling onwards towards northern Europe or it will have to introduce border controls at the Brenner Pass in the Alps. But with Austrian preparations for controls already under way, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Austria's move was "shamelessly against European rules, as well as being against history, against logic and against the future". Austrian police in the Alpine province of Tyrol, which borders on northern Italy, presented plans for the installation of facilities at Brenner to inspect vehicles and process migrants, in the event formal controls are introduced. Building work on some of the facilities at Brenner began two weeks ago but their scale was not immediately known. "A security fence of 370 metres (1,220 feet) is planned," a Tyrol police spokesman said, adding that the fence was part of a system aimed at channelling migrants in the deep valley that the Brenner Pass runs through. Whether the fence is built, however, will depend on the outcome of talks in Rome on Thursday between Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka and his Italian counterpart, the spokesman said. --SPA 22:18 LOCAL TIME 19:18 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w