(ANSA) - LUXEMBOURG - ''Austria has always called for refugee centres outside of European borders, to prevent the rescues in the Mediterranean Sea from being a ticket to Central Europe'', Austria's foreign minister Sebastian Kurz said on his arrival at the Council in Luxembourg.

Underlining that ''as long as people continue to be carried to central Europe after rescue, more and more people will travel, traffickers will gain more and more, and the worse thing, more and more people will die: if we stop people at the outer border after their rescue and organize their return directly from there, people will hardly continue their journey''.

Kurz, who is favourite to win the election, said he will continue to support this approach ''at European level'': ''I'm convinced that in the end this will be the EU's single approach''. Austria's foreign minister added that ''the European asylum system must be drastically changed''. (ANSA).