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More than 42,000 asylum applications were made in Austria this year – and thus more than in the entire previous year. The high number is put into perspective a little by the fact that a number of refugees are apparently only passing through, but are apprehended by increased police controls. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) “strongly” rejects allegations that the numbers are being kept artificially high because they are also motivating those who do not want to stay in Austria to apply. He sees the border operations because of anti-smuggling and out of consideration for the population in the Burgenland border regions as no alternative.
