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Austria wants to reduce migrant flow to 30,000-40,000 a year

Migrants walk from the Macedonian border into Serbia, near the village of Miratovac, Serbia, on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. Bracing cold temperatures hundreds of migrants continue to arrive daily into Serbia in order to register and continue their journey further north towards Western Europe. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu) Migrants walk from the Macedonian border into Serbia, near the village of Miratovac, Serbia, on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. Bracing cold temperatures hundreds of migrants continue to arrive daily into Serbia in order to register and continue their journey further north towards Western Europe. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

By Associated Press January 20, 2016 1 min read

VIENNA (AP) – The latest news on the influx of asylum-seekers and other migrants in Europe. All times local:

8:50 a.m.

Ahead of a refugee summit of national and regional government leaders, a senior minister says Austria wants to reduce the number of migrants entering the country to no more than 40,000 a year.

Deputy Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner is cited in Wednesday’s Kurier newspaper as saying that his conservative party advocates a figure of 30,000 over four years. The daily says Mitterlehner’s Social Democratic coalition partners favor 40,000 over three years.

Mitterlehner acknowledges that such restrictions still must be “legally clarified,” in efforts to find a way that a person’s right to asylum is not violated.

Close to 90,000 refugees applied for asylum last year in Austria.