Austria wants migrant flow to be reduced to 30,000-40,000

Close to 90,000 refugees applied for asylum last year in Austria.

Vienna

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Ahead of a refugee summit of national and regional government leaders, a senior minister says Austria wants to reduce the number of migrants entering the country to no more than 40,000 a year.

Deputy Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner is cited in Wednesday's Kurier newspaper as saying that his conservative party advocates a figure of 30,000 over four years. The daily says Mitterlehner's Social Democratic coalition partners favor 40,000 over three years.

Mitterlehner acknowledges that such restrictions still must be -"legally clarified,-" in efforts to find a way that a person's right to asylum is not violated.

Close to 90,000 refugees applied for asylum last year in Austria.