The Central European country will implement this measure for those who want to become refugees

The conservative government of Austria has approved a measure that will force to pay up to 840 euros to asylum seekers to defray the costs of the process. The opposition parties have dismissed this decree as "controversial" because, in their opinion, it significantly limits the rights of immigrants.

Leer en español: ¿Por qué los solicitantes de asilo deberán pagar 840 euros en Austria?

Federal Chancellor and leader of the Austrian People's Party (OVP), Sebastian Kurz, defended this decision, arguing that the objective is "to combat both illegal immigration and the abuse of asylum status." This bill has yet to be approved by Parliament, a procedure that will not be a problem since the Government has a large majority there.

The payment of this fee will be made in cash and will be deducted from the amount that each immigrant carries when he/she enters the country. The authorities will be able to access the cell phones of the new arrivals in order to track their trajectories and confirm that the data provided by the asylum seekers coincide with the data on the route they followed to reach Austria. All this to verify that they are not lying to the authorities, because the Dublin regulation establishes that people can only ask for asylum in the first European country they reach, and many immigrants do not meet this requirement and go through several before applying. If during the process officials find irregularities or criminal signs, they may open an investigation.

Deputy Foreign Minister and leader of the ultra-rightist Liberal Party (FPO), Heinz-Christian Strache, confirmed that "those refugees who commit a crime on Austrian soil will be immediately detained in special centers and subsequently deported." This measure also includes minors.

The Minister of the Interior, Herbert Kickl, also recalled that "the right to remain in Austria will be lost if the interested party travels to his country of origin after having arrived in the Alpine nation". The politician wanted to make it clear that the Austrians voted for a party that had promised a much more restrictive asylum policy.

The ultimate goal of these measures is to eliminate Austria from the list of the most attractive countries for refugees. Kickl stressed that they want to work so that in the future no asylum seeker can do it in the European Union and this process is carried out in centers located in non-EU countries.

At the worst moment of the refugee crisis in Europe (2015-2016), Austria became one of the main attractions nations for those fleeing the war in Syria. This small republic showed, from the beginning, reluctance to the massive influx of immigrants, as did its Hungarian neighbors, which created a buffer by preventing refugees from entering their territory from Serbia. Both countries are governed by the extreme right and have not accepted the distribution of immigrants established by the European Union, with Germany being the main recipient of them. A decision that undermined the popularity of Angela Merkel to occur several crimes committed by these asylum seekers.

Latin American Post | José María González Alonso
Translated from “ ¿Por qué los solicitantes de asilo deberán pagar 840 euros en Austria?”