Austria puts cap on migrants, Germany hints at same

Austria has put a cap on the number of refugees it wants to accept — 37,500 this year and a total of 127,500 through 2019.

Chancellor Werner Faymann says the figures are a “guideline” while Deputy Chancellor Reinhard Mitterlehner calls it an “upper limit.”

Officials said the government will be examining legal options on how it can react if those numbers are exceeded.

Faymann calls the decision an “emergency solution,” but says Austria “cannot accept everyone applying for asylum.”

Soon after the announcement, the German government says it wants the number of migrants coming to the country to fall “significantly” after almost 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived last year.

Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, says the flow of refugees has already slowed this year, but a further reduction is needed.

Seibert doesn’t say what number the government is aiming for and declines to comment on the cap announced Wednesday by Austria.

— AP