Austrian minister prominent in migrant crisis leaving job
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Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner, a prominent figure in Europe's migrant crisis as her country introduced refugee limits that set off the closure of the Balkan route, is stepping down from the job.
Mikl-Leitner's conservative Austrian People's Party announced late Sunday that the minister will become deputy governor of Lower Austria province. She will be replaced as interior minister by Wolfgang Sobotka, currently a top official in Lower Austria.
Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner said Mikl-Leitner had informed him "that she sees her future in Lower Austria." He praised her for bringing about "an end to the policy of waving through (migrants) to central Europe."
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He said that Sobotka, who is to be sworn in later this month, will provide the "necessary continuity."