Austria has passed one of Europe's toughest asylum laws, designed to stop inflows of people seeking international protection.
Lawmakers passed the new bill on Wednesday (27 April) amid broader fears over migration that have helped the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) to surge in popularity, with its main candidate taking a surprise lead in presidential elections.
The law allows the federal government to declare a "state of emergency" and refuse entry to migrants if numbers suddenly ...
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Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.