Austria said it wants to seize Adolf Hitler's birthplace from its private owner in a bid to end a bitter legal battle and stop the house from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine on Saturday.
"We are currently examining the creation of a law which would force a change of ownership and pass the property to the Republic of Austria," interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck said.
"We have come to the conclusion over the past few years that expropriation is the ony way to avoid the building being used for the purposes of Nazi" sympathisers, he stated.
The plan would involve the state making an offer of compensation to the current owner, he added.