MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2023) Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Thursday he met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss the European Union's asylum reform.
"Today, I have managed to meet with European Commission President (Ursula von der Leyen) on the sidelines of the Salzburg Festival in Austria. We took the opportunity to discuss current EU issues that are troubling and burdening the people of Austria. I stand for an EU that concentrates on the big challenges and pays more and more attention to the principle of subsidiarity. Issues of the EU asylum system are an obvious European task," Nehammer tweeted.
He said he would continue to fight for reform of the European asylum system, especially with regard to the protection of external borders and cooperation with safe third countries.
The Salzburg Festival is an annual summer festival of opera, music and drama that kicks off in late July.
In April, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said Austria would veto the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area until Vienna saw a decrease in the number of asylum seekers.
Last month, after years of negotiations, the European Union agreed to reform its migration policy. Under the new mandatory "solidarity mechanism," member states must take in a set number of refugees or pay 20,000 Euros ($21,700) per person into an EU refugee fund. The plan has caused divisions within the EU, with Poland and Hungary opposing it.
