VIENNA—Austria’s chancellor vowed Saturday to better protect the European Union’s outer borders to curb illegal migration, as he held a summit with his German, Greek and west Balkans counterparts to debate strategies to deal with Europe’s migrant crisis.
“We need to regain control over our external border,” Chancellor Christian Kern said at a press conference after the Vienna summit. “We need to decide who gets to come to Europe,” not the traffickers.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a speedier return of migrants who didn’t get asylum status is another important goal.
“We therefore talked today about the necessity of quickly finishing agreements with third countries, especially with Africa, but also Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Merkel said. “So that those who cannot stay for humanitarian reasons will be returned to their home countries.”
