Financial Times: Syrians, Afghans and African nationals seeking refuge in the EU would have to file their asylum applications before entering the bloc under radical migration proposals put forward by Austria’s government.
The plan shows the hard line that Austria will champion when it takes over the bloc’s rotating presidency on July 1. It would also highlight a shift away from the EU’s existing asylum system, where “frontline” Mediterranean states such as Italy, which receive most migrant arrivals, have long argued that they shoulder an unfair burden.
At a “mini-summit” of EU leaders on Sunday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called for “radical change” in how the EU deals with asylum claims. Sunday’s meeting, convened on the initiative of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, failed to make headway. More clashes are expected at a full EU leaders’ summit in Brussels this week.
The Austrian document underscores how the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, which includes the far-right Freedom party, wants to use the country’s six-month EU leadership to push for a tough response to the political crisis over migration. Austrian officials said the paper was intended for discussion and was drawn up by the interior ministry of interior, which is headed by the Freedom party’s Herbert Kickl.
