Angela Merkel Facing Fresh Migration Crisis as Austria Threatens to Throw Up Border Controls

• Angela Merkel Facing Fresh Migration Crisis as Austria Threatens to Throw Up Border Controls
  by Jon Stone, https://www.independent.co.uk/
  Austria has threatened to close its borders if Germany’s new policy goes ahead
  Angela Merkel was given a fresh migration crisis headache on Tuesday after a neighbouring government threatened to close its borders in response her new stricter asylum policy. Austria said it would “take measures to protect its borders” if Germany imposed new planned entry restrictions on refugees agreed by Ms Merkel in emergency talks with her own ministers late on Monday night.
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  The policy, which would see migrants entering Germany held in centres and potentially sent back to other EU countries if they had already registered somewhere else, is part of a compromise agreed by Ms Merkel with her rebellious right-ring interior minister Horst Seehofer.
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  Austria however fears measures to turn back migrants could make it the final destination for more people. Ms Merkel had feared that Germany toughening its stance could cause a wave of border closures across Europe and threaten the integrity of the EU’s passportless Schengen Area.
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  “We will be obliged to take measures to avoid disadvantages for Austria and its people,” the Austrian government said in a statement. The statement called for Germany to clarify its position. Under the Schengen agreement countries can impose temporary border controls for security or other reasons.
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  Speaking at the European parliament Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for a “paradigm shift in migration” and claimed “a Europe without internal borders” would only be possible “in-the long term” with changes. “We need to focus on the safeguarding of our external borders as the prerequisite for a common border-free Europe,” he said.
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