Germany, Austria agree to strengthen EU external border protection

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her visiting Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz agreed Sunday to better safeguard European Union's (EU) external borders ahead of the bloc's informal summit next week in Salzburg, Austria.

At the joint press conference before the two leaders' meeting Sunday evening in Berlin, Merkel said the issue of migration was a very important topic and Berlin shared the priorities of Austria's EU Presidency -- EU's external border protection.

"Jean-Claude Juncker has made further proposals for this, which I warmly welcome," said Merkel, referring to the European Commission President's plan for strengthening EU's external border protection, including expanding the border agency Frontex to 10,000 troops by 2020.

Kurz said that on the imminent withdrawal of Britain from the EU, a "hard Brexit" must be prevented in any case. Merkel emphasized that the EU must also speak in Salzburg about a timetable for the European elections in May 2019.

The cooperation with Africa in a bid to fight the causes of migration is also to be improved, said the two leaders. Kurz also said the EU will host a summit with African countries together with the African Union in December in Vienna.

The EU informal summit will be held on Sept 19-20 in Salzburg, during which migration and Brexit will be the two major focuses.