"I'm convinced that the solution to the migrant problem lies with decent border protection and stronger help in countries of origin," Kurz told reporters after he was received in Berlin with military honours. While Merkel echoed those priorities, she also chided the member states that have refused to take in their share of migrants and refugees under the European Union's quota system.

When external border protection fails, "it cannot be, in my view, that there are some countries that say 'we don't want to participate in European solidarity'," she said. Austria has sided with countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic that reject the scheme, agreed by a majority of EU leaders in 2015, to share 160,000 migrants around the bloc to help frontline states like Greece and Italy. Just some 32,000 were relocated by the end of 2017.

Merkel stressed the "close cooperation" between Germany and Austria and their shared positions on many issues. She said she would judge the new government in Vienna "by its actions", but added that she would be watching closely.