Sebastian Kurz Quotes

Enough of Sicily being the refugee camp of Europe. I will not stand by and do nothing while there are landings after landings of migrants.

In 2015, the majority of refugees and migrants reached the European Union through Greece. Greek authorities were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people arriving at their shores. But they did not stay there. They were waved through to Central Europe at an increasing pace.

In Greece, refugees are being waved through to the heart of Europe. That is simply unacceptable in the long run. The European Union cannot act like a human trafficker.

We in Austria have always had lots of immigration. But when one starts, as happened in Europe last year, to open the borders and to transport people northwards as fast as possible, then of course it's not just Syrians who come. People from all around the world then see their chance to quickly come to Europe.

The unregulated migration of hundreds of thousands of refugees from terrorist safe havens in Syria, Iraq, and Libya has created a very difficult threat environment for Europe.

We need not to just kill the boat-smuggling business model: we also need to get rid of this asylum-shopping in the European Union.

The influx of migrants must be stopped.

Before we kill Schengen, we have to make Dublin work.

I predict that as warm weather returns to Europe, so will the flood of Middle Eastern immigrants.

I ask our European partners for a truly European migration management. The burden of landings cannot weigh only on the countries of arrival.

Every country in the E.U. should make a personnel and a financial contribution in that area. We shouldn't leave alone countries like Italy and Greece that have external borders; rather, we must make the external borders safe together.

The migratory phenomenon exists, and Europe will have to face it together. The only alternative is a 'beggar-thy-neighbor' solution, in which countries try to load the problem off on their neighbors.

I want to send a very strong signal to people who do think about making this journey - we will do everything we can to make sure it is not a success in the sense that I don't want people to think that if they leave a safe country like France that they can get to Britain and just get to stay.

I am not being negative, I am simply being factual when I say Kevin Rudd is the best friend the people smugglers have ever had

Let's put it this way: I am confident that Schengen will continue to be defended. And when it comes to repatriations, we have the same opinion.

We now have two options: We can commence operations at the Hotspots in Italy and Greece and continue to do nothing - in which case they would soon be overflowing. Or we can show responsibility and organize a distribution system that takes into account the limits of each individual member state. Migrants, for their part, must recognize that, while they have a right to protection, they do not have the right to freely choose the country. In addition, it is clear: Not everybody can come to us.

We live in an era where masses of people come and go across a hostile planet, desolate and violent. Refugees, emigrants, exiles, deportees. We are a tragic contingent.

I think all of Europe has been too soft on the refugee crisis.

Why are all these refugees rushing to the beauty and strength of Europe and to the United States and not rushing to their own capitals or the capitals of the Muslim world? We ought to be pushing back. We ought to be putting people back on these boats and putting them back into the places where they came from and telling these leaders in the Arab world, "You have a responsibility as well."

I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not - it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in.

The claim made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that the refugee question is a German problem is incorrect. It is a European problem.

There are people who are anxious about immigration for reasons that are perfectly sensible. They think it's uncontrolled. They think it's, therefore, arbitrary in its consequences, and there are some communities affected much more deeply than others.

If we Europeans are not in a state to be able to solve the refugee crisis ourselves, if we only depend on Plan B with Turkey - then that is not simply an impression, it is the truth. But Europe cannot be susceptible to blackmail or be weak. I am, in any case, not in favor of having a deal with Turkey at any price.

My administration is going to stop the tens of thousands of people coming in from Syria. We have no idea who they are, where they come from. There's no documentation. There's no paperwork. It's going to end badly folks. It's going to end very, very badly.

People have accused me at times of having too big of a heart.But I have to also to say I must keep the people of my state safe. So we take a pause [in taking refugees].