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Austrian Government to Decide on Border Security Measures on January 20

© AP Photo / Ronald ZakAustrian soldiers are building a fence to improve the procedure for arriving refugees at the border between Slovenian and Austria in Spielfeld, Austria, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015
Austrian soldiers are building a fence to improve the procedure for arriving refugees at the border between Slovenian and Austria in Spielfeld, Austria, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015 - Sputnik International
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Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said that Austrian authorities will take concrete measures to defend state borders from migrant inflow.

Refugees wait for a special train at the train station in Freilassing, near the Austrian-German border, southern Germany - Sputnik International
Austria to Deny Entry to Migrants Planning to Transit Through Germany
VIENNA (Sputnik) Austrian authorities will take concrete measures to defend state borders from migrant inflow during a forthcoming meeting of the federal government later in the week, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said Monday.

"The meeting of the federal government, devoted to the refugee issue, will take place on January 20, and I assume that [some] concrete measures will be taken. As for me personally, it is obvious that if there is no an all-European solution [to the migrant crisis], such countries as Austria are obliged to take national measures," Kurz told journalists on Monday.

According to Kurz, Austria received about 90,000 claims for asylum in 2015, which is three times more than usually, and the situation in 2016 should not be the same.

According to the minister, there are countries in the European Union that want the flows of migrants to move to Central Europe as fast as possible.

"…however, there are also such states as Germany, Austria and Sweden, which do not agree with this situation, and we need to make everything to reduce these flows [of migrants]," Kurz stressed.

According to the Austrian top diplomat, hospitality and openness policy is not the solution to the refugee crisis, and if it is impossible to stop migrants at EU external borders, it must be done at countries' national borders.

Europe is still facing a major refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from conflict-torn countries in North Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia attempt to escape poverty and violence in their home countries.

The EU border agency Frontex detected 1.55 million illegal border crossings at the course of 2015.

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