"Physical infrastructure and barriers are necessary to protect the external borders," he said.
He stressed that the protection of EU borders was a necessity, and if Europe was unable to do that, "then the Schengen area would become absurd." The Austrian chancellor further urged putting a stop to migrant flows through safe third countries to the EU.
Nehammer said that EU funding was needed for the construction of walls and fences on the bloc's external borders.
Earlier in the day, a German daily reported that Nehammer vowed to block a EU summit final resolution if no concrete steps to curb illegal migration are reflected in the document. He called the EU's asylum system "broken," citing a surge in asylum bids from migrants who entered the 27-nation bloc illegally. About three-quarters of the 100,000 people who sought asylum in Austria last year had not been registered in any other EU or Schengen member state.
The eight EU nations — Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia — demanded on Monday that the EU executive and the Frontex border protection agency act tougher on illegal migration, increase pushbacks and use visas as leverage against reluctant countries of origin.