Stocker: “Austria continues to put the brakes on asylum”

2023-05-28 11:20:05

While the FPÖ is not getting anywhere with its radical ideas, the federal government is making sure that in Austria – unlike the EU average – the number of asylum seekers is falling

Vienna (OTS) – “Austria continues to step on the asylum brake. At the meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg on June 8, Minister Gerhard Karner will therefore do everything possible to introduce Austria’s reform ideas into the EU’s asylum and migration pact. Now that we have seen that the federal government’s path is working, it is now a matter of continuing consistently until the asylum crisis in Europe has been brought under control in the long term. The aim is to relieve the Austrian system, but also to prevent further deaths in the Mediterranean, as well as to put a stop to the smugglers who accept these deaths out of greed for money. An important part of this will be that we allow asylum procedures outside the EU for all member states, so that the smuggling mafia is deprived of any business basis,” said the General Secretary of the People’s Party, Christian Stocker, praising the Interior Minister’s commitment to the European asylum issue.

“But it is just as important that we start with the economic pull factors and create a European social welfare system that gives a real incentive to work. This is the only way to prevent individual countries from being regarded as special target countries and having to bear unfair burdens. And stricter deportation options are also needed. Although the safety of those in need of protection must be guaranteed, it is incomprehensible why one should not be able to deport a Taliban to Afghanistan, for example,” Stocker continued.

“We currently see that it was and is right that we focused on cooperation on this issue and not, as the FPÖ demands, on isolation. In close cooperation with our neighboring countries, we have already achieved great success. Today we have demonstrably significantly fewer asylum seekers in basic care than under Interior Minister Kickl. And at significantly lower costs. More and more people abroad are also recognizing this success. Because while the FPÖ is not getting anywhere with its radical ideas, the federal government is making sure that in Austria – unlike the EU average – the number of asylum seekers is falling,” says Stocker, who refers to the reporting in the German newspaper Bild: