Roundup: Austrian, German ministers stress securing EU's external borders

Defense ministers of Austria and Germany on Monday called for coordinated efforts to secure the external borders of the European Union (EU).

Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil met with his German counterpart Ursula von der Leyen in Vienna on Monday to seek agreement on how to tackle the refugee crisis.

Some tensions between the two countries had come about as a result of the crisis, in particular due to differing perspectives on how to handle it. Doskozil had made a trip to Berlin for an informal discussion with Von der Leyen mid-April, with the latter now making her first trip to Vienna for two days of bilateral talks.

At a press conference following their meeting, Doskozil said there was mutual agreement that, from a European perspective, there must be joint protection of the outer EU borders. In addition, it was important to respect the course of action each state chose.

He said it was imperative "not to lose the basis for talks between the individual states," and to coordinate steps taken with each other.

He added if this approach was taken, he was confident, "we will not have another year like 2015," referring to when the crisis was in full swing.

Von der Leyen in turn placed an emphasis on "finding a joint European solution to the problems that we have," in terms of the refugee crisis.

She said Europe had progressed further on the issue from where it was a year ago, and also shared Doskozil's view that a decisive component of the issue was the joint protection of the EU outer borders.

Should Europe seek joint solutions, she said, it would also find them, making reference to the situation with Greece. In this context, there was now a shift south to Italy, she added, with whom solutions must now also be found in order to again protect the outer borders of the union.

She did not, however, wish to comment on the hot topic of border management measures at the Brenner Pass on the Austrian-Italian shared border, and said what was more important was to concentrate on the outer borders of the EU for which one must "pool European strength" in order to make the external borders "weatherproof."

Doskozil said another key point of the meeting had been a deepening of bilateral cooperation for which a framework contract for 45 cooperation projects was signed. These projects ranged from joint basic helicopter training to an intensification of security coordination through the exchange of liaison officers on a military-political strategic level.

Von der Leyen said the cooperations brought "a spirit of confidence."

Germany alone registered nearly 1.1 million new migrant arrivals in 2015 and is trying to bring the number down this year.

In 2015, several countries in the Schengen zone reintroduced border controls as a record number of migrants were coming to Europe.

Germany, France, Austria, Denmark and Sweden reportedly have recently written the European Commission to ask for prolonging the temporary border controls they reintroduced, citing volatile border situation. The Commission has yet to rule.

In its major effort to handle the migrant crisis, EU in March entered into a controversial deal with Turkey, under which new migrants whose asylum claims were rejected will be returned to Turkey and EU will resettle one Syrian refugee for every Syrian returned to Turkey. Endit