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Austria sees continued high influx of refugees

Xinhua, December 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Almost 115,000 refugees have crossed into Austria in the space of 31 days leading to December 21, with the Interior Ministry on Wednesday stressing its warnings over being able to cope with the constant influx must be heeded.

The Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported the ministry figures that show 114,988 refugees entered Austria in one month, averaging 3,709 per day and showing the influx has not lessened to near the extent that some quarters have claimed.

While only 7,434 of the total number have made an asylum application within Austria, refugee quarters in the country are already largely full.

The Interior Ministry also believes the influx will continue strongly into 2016 when it expects 120,000 asylum applications, significantly higher than the total of somewhere over 80,000 expected for the present year.

The ministry, run by the conservative People's Party, has urged federal coalition partner the Social Democrats to assist in toughening asylum rules, noting that broader European measures alone are not enough, and pointed to the border fence being constructed in the southern town of Spielfeld, its own initiative, as an effective means of controlling "how many refugees may pass each day." Endit