Austria said Tuesday it is ready to implement unspecified border protections if Germany enacts a set of stricter immigration controls its government announced Monday.

An Austrian government statement said it is “prepared in particular to take measures to protect our southern borders,” which include those with Italy and Slovenia.

Austria did not say what those measures would be.

Germany’s ruling coalition has been divided on the issue of immigration, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party advocating a more welcoming stance while her Bavarian coalition partner argued for stricter controls over who is allowed into the country.

The divide threatened to push Merkel to seek a new coalition or call new elections. But after hours of negotiations, she and Christian Social Union leader and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer both said they had agreed on a plan that worked for both sides.

The agreement calls for establishing transit centers to hold asylum-seekers while their cases are evaluated. If they are found to have already applied for asylum in a different European Union country they would be sent back to that country, or to Austria, pending agreement with the Austrian government.
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