Austrian chancellor casts doubt on EU migrant 'hotspot' plans

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann waits for the start of an extraordinary session of the parliament on migration policy in Vienna, Austria, September 24, 2015. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann cast doubt on the workability of the so-called migrant hotspots European leaders plan to create by the end of next month in Greece and Italy to help manage large numbers of refugees.

Of the more than half a million refugees and migrants to arrive in Europe across the Mediterranean this year, almost 400,000 have come through Greece and 131,000 through Italy, making them frontline states in the continent's biggest refugee crisis since World War Two.