Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, left, and German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, right, attend a press conference on June 13, 2018 in Berlin | Carsten Koall/Getty Images Austria’s Kurz wants ‘axis of willing’ against illegal migration Chancellor sees Vienna-Berlin-Rome alliance on securing Europe’s borders.

Austria's conservative leader Sebastian Kurz called Wednesday for an "axis of the willing against illegal migration" between Italy, Germany and his own country.

Speaking alongside German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a Bavarian conservative who shares the Austrian chancellor's views on tightening up Europe's borders, Kurz said fighting illegal immigration would be a top priority for Vienna's presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2018.

"We shouldn't wait until we have a catastrophe, like in 2015," Kurz said, referring to the refugee crisis when German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened her country's borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants. "Instead it is important to act on time."

Kurz's meeting with Seehofer means the German minister was unable to attend Merkel's "integration summit" happening the same day in Berlin. Referring to media reports that this was meant as a snub to the German leader, Seehofer said his reason for not attending was the presence of a journalist, Ferda Ataman, who has compared his policies on migration to the Nazis.

From my point of view, it would be ideal to secure the external borders of the European Union" — Horst Seehofer, German interior minister

"I cannot be part of an integration summit where there is one participant who in an article compared my strategy on homeland to the homeland understanding of the Nazis," Seehofer told reporters.

Seehofer takes a much harder line than Merkel on immigration and was expected to present a "migration master plan" this week. That has been postponed, but Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and Seehofer's Christian Social Union (CSU) hope to find a compromise on the plan this week, Seehofer said.

"From my point of view, it would be ideal to secure the external borders of the European Union," Seehofersaid after the meeting with Kurz. "I promised Chancellor Kurz that on the question of strengthening the external borders he has my full support as interior minister."

Seehofer, who had a phone call on Tuesday with Italy's populist Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, said the new government in Rome is also keen to build a partnership with Vienna and Berlin on security, counterterrorism and migration. Seehofer and Salvini are in "full agreement" on how to secure the EU's external borders, the German minister said.