Asylum seekers face tough laws under Austria’s far-right rulers
Migrants will be forced to surrender their money and phones, while protection will be temporary only
ASYLUM seekers in Austria will have to hand over their mobile phones and money as part of an asylum application, Austria’s new conservative and far-right coalition announced.
Under the plan unveiled after the two parties were sworn in yesterday, Austria will seek to stop illegal immigration and ensure that people whose asylum claims are rejected are quickly deported. Asylum is “temporary protection” only, the policy states.
The money taken by authorities will apparently be used to cover basic care costs, while mobile phone data will be examined to clarify identities, the coalition said.
Austria’s farright Freedom Party secured its return to power yesterday, as the president swore in the country’s new government amid protests on the streets of Vienna.
Sebastian Kurz, of the conservative People’s Party (OVP), is now chancellor, after he reached a deal on Friday with the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO), which was founded by former members of the Nazi party. Heinz-christian Strache, the leader of the nationalist FPO, will be the vice chancellor.
Austria is now the only western European country with a far-right party in government. And, at just 31, Kurz is the continent’s youngest leader, after his party won the Oct 15 election with 32 per cent of the vote. The nationalist FPO came third with 26 per cent of the vote.
Mr Kurz won the election with a hard line on immigration that overlapped with the FPO.
The future leaders presented their 180-page government programme on Sunday, and said that they planned to do things “much better” and that “nobody had anything to fear”. Mr Strache said on Facebook on Sunday that the new government will also slash benefits for asylum seekers. “It will no longer happen for migrants who have never worked here a single day or paid anything into the social system to get thousands of euros in welfare,” he wrote. Austria should be a land of diversity, Mr Kurz added, and pointed out that it should also have basic values that apply to all. The coalition’s motto is “time for the new”, as it promises to establish a new political style.
In a speech to swear in the chancellor, Alexander Van der Bellen, the Austrian president, urged the coalition to adopt a responsible policy, especially towards minorities. “Working with the weakest shows what our values are really worth,” he said.
Around 6,000 people packed out Heroes Square in the centre of Vienna to protest, according to police, waving
placards that said “refugees welcome” and “no Nazi pigs”. There was also a heavy police presence, including helicopters and water cannon.
Today, Mr Kurz will travel to Brussels to meet Jean-claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, and Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, amid widespread concern that Austria’s swing to the right will further exacerbate EU divisions.
Mr Kurz has already ruled out a referendum on membership of the European Union and stressed that the new government should be pro-eu, but last week he said he would follow countries such as Hungary and Poland in rejecting the bloc’s mandatory migrant relocation quotas. Mr Kurz has also emphasised that he wants to work in close cooperation with Germany.