Tens of thousands of people have arrived in Italy this year after being rescued at sea. Austria fears they now have a “ticket to central Europe”

Austria has reacted angrily to Italian proposals to give travel documents to migrants now hosted in Italian reception centres, threatening to seal its borders if any try to enter the country.

“Rescue in the Mediterranean cannot be a one way ticket to central Europe,” said Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian foreign minister, who called the proposal absurd. He warned that any attempt to give migrants travel documents would be met by a clampdown at the Brenner Pass, which links Italy and Austria.

As revealed by The Times on Saturday, Italian politicians, including Mario Giro, the deputy foreign minister, have proposed invoking a little-known EU rule to hand out travel permits to migrants rescued off Libya and brought to Italy.

With more than 85,000 rescued so far