Icon: enlarge
Federal President Alexander van der Bellen (archive picture)
Photo:
Herbert Pfarrhofer / dpa
They had lived in Austria for years, but classmates, teachers and demonstrators could not prevent the action: Even several hours later, the rigorous deportation of three schoolgirls and their families still preoccupies national politics.
Austria's Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen has now also spoken out.
"I can not and do not want to believe that we live in a country where this is really necessary in this form," said Van der Bellen in a video statement published on Twitter.
His assessment can be seen as a tip against his former party colleagues in the Greens.
You are a junior partner in the Austrian government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's ÖVP and had not previously managed to obtain a right to stay for those affected.
Van der Bellen was also an active Green politician for years, but in 2016 he suspended his party membership in order to emphasize his non-partisanship as Federal President.
It makes him "deeply concerned" that families with underage children were deported that night.
The Federal President appealed to "everyone who bears responsibility here" to give priority to the "welfare of children, of children and young people."
The deportation was accompanied by a protest that night.
Politicians of the SPÖ, the Greens and the liberal Neos had spoken out in favor of a stop.
Deportation burdens coalition of ÖVP and Greens
The interior ministry of ÖVP politician Karl Nehammer, on the other hand, had referred to several highest court decisions that provided for deportation.
In one case, according to the APA news agency, a Georgian family has been illegally staying in Austria for four years.
A twelve-year-old from the family, who has now also been deported, lived in Georgia for two years because her mother had to return there.
Only the father is legally in the country with a tourist visa.
The Federal Administrative Court had ruled in the asylum procedure that the long stay was due not least to persistent non-compliance with the official requirements.
The case leads to tensions within the government consisting of the conservative ÖVP and the Greens.
In the run-up to the deportation, the Greens had campaigned for the well-integrated family to remain and a "human solution".
Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) criticized the deportation as “inhuman and irresponsible” according to the “Standard”.
Icon: The mirror
fek