Austria’s Kurz wants ‘axis of willing’ against illegal migration

Austria’s Kurz wants ‘axis of willing’ against illegal migration
Chancellor sees Vienna-Berlin-Rome alliance on securing Europe’s borders.

By VASSILI GOLOD 6/13/18, 4:50 PM CET Updated 6/13/18, 5:01 PM CET
Austria’s conservative leader Sebastian Kurz called Wednesday for an “axis of the willing against illegal migration” between Italy, Germany and his own country.

Speaking alongside German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a Bavarian conservative who shares the Austrian chancellor’s views on tightening up Europe’s borders, Kurz said fighting illegal immigration would be a top priority for Vienna’s presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2018.

“We shouldn’t wait until we have a catastrophe, like in 2015,” Kurz said, referring to the refugee crisis when German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened her country’s borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants. “Instead it is important to act on time.”

Kurz’s meeting with Seehofer means the German minister was unable to attend Merkel’s “integration summit” happening the same day in Berlin. Referring to media reports that this was meant as a snub to the German leader, Seehofer said his reason for not attending was the presence of a journalist, Ferda Ataman, who has compared his policies on migration to the Nazis.

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