Austria’s newly sworn-in right-wing coalition is rolling out some of the toughest immigration measures seen in Europe for a long time. Under the new regulations, migrants entering the country will have to hand over cash they are carrying to authorities and allow access to their mobile phones to ascertain their identities and travel routes.

The new government also seeks to curtail cash payments made by the state to the migrants, a step aimed at curbing the “welfare magnetism” that has been drawing economic migrants to Europe.

On Monday, the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) formed a coalition government. Both parties ran on promises of ending the mass migration and limiting the EU’s hold on the country’s domestic affairs.

The right-wing FPÖ has been more outspoken against the dangers of unregulated migrant influx – especially from the Muslim majority countries – compared to its conservative coalition partner, the ÖVP.

Austria should “quickly put an end to this policy of Islamization,” the leader of the FPÖ, Heinz-Christian Strache, said at a party rally earlier this year, “Otherwise we Austrians, we Europeans will come to an abrupt end.”

Under the coalition deal, Sebastian Kurz, the leader of the ÖVP, will head the government as the new Austrian Chancellor, and Strache’s FPÖ gets the control of Austria’s key interior, foreign, and defence ministries.

British newspaper The Telegraph reported the immigration measures put in place by Austria’s new government:

Asylum seekers in Austria will have to hand over their mobile phones and money as part of an asylum application, Austria's new conservative and far-Right coalition announced. (...)

Under the plan unveiled after the two parties were sworn in yesterday, Austria will seek to stop illegal immigration and ensure that people whose asylum claims are rejected are quickly deported. Asylum is "temporary protection" only, the policy states.

The money seized by authorities will apparently be used to cover basic care costs, while mobile phone data will be trawled through to clarify identities, the coalition said. (...)

Mr Strache (leader of the right-wing FPÖ) said on Facebook on Sunday that the new government will also slash benefits for asylum seekers. "It will no longer happen for migrants who have never worked here a single day or paid anything into the social system to get thousands of Euros in welfare," he wrote.

Austrian government’s decision to get tough on mass migration comes at a time when right-wing parties across Europe are seeking to forge a unified strategy to push back the EU policy of open arms for illegal immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East. This weekend, Europe’s leading right-wing politicians met in the Czech capital Prague to formulate just such a strategy.

In recent months, Brussels has been responding aggressively to growing opposition to its controversial Migrant Policy, especially from the eastern European member states. Last week, the EU began legal proceedings against Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic for daring to block its plans to ‘relocate’ some 160,000 migrants across Europe.