Austria enforces plan to limit daily refugee numbers

Austria was to impose daily caps on Friday on the number of refugees entering the country despite EU warnings that the move runs contrary to the 28-nation bloc’s law.

Vienna said it would implement the plan to only let in 3,200 people a day, adding it is also slated to limit the number of asylum claims at 80 a day from Friday.

“I am very happy with our decision and we will stick to it,” Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner as she arrived for a summit of EU leaders, adding Vienna “will have to reduce these upper limits further.”

The decision comes despite a warning by the EU’s top migration official, who said the plan is against the continental body’s law.

“What the Austrians have decided is not according to European laws,” EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Thursday.

“There are some principles and laws that all countries must respect and apply,” he added.

On Thursday, Austria’s interior minister brushed aside criticism of her country’s plan to limit daily refugee numbers, saying the plan would be put into operation as foreseen.

SS