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Austria: Nehammer pushes for stronger EU border protection

2023-02-08T08:51:00.872Z


At the summit in Brussels, the EU heads of state and government want to show unity. But Austria's Chancellor Nehammer could thwart the plan.


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Austria's Prime Minister Nehammer: "Asylum system broken"

Photo: Heinz-Peter Bader / AP

Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) again insists on stricter action against migration into the territory of the EU.

Before the two-day EU summit in Brussels, which begins on Thursday, Nehammer vetoed the final declaration in the newspaper "Welt" if there were no concrete agreements on migration issues.

"Empty phrases will not suffice," said Nehammer accordingly.

Several EU states had therefore written a joint letter with their demands in the run-up to the two-day summit beginning on Thursday in Brussels, including Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Greece and Slovakia, according to Nehammer.

Nehammer wants “a clear and unambiguous commitment to strengthening external border protection”

“We finally need a clear and unambiguous commitment to strengthening external border protection and using the appropriate financial resources from the EU budget for this,” demanded the Austrian.

“Concrete steps” would have to be taken.

If this does not happen, then Austria will "not be able to support the final declaration of the EU summit," said the conservative head of government.

According to the information, the letter says, among other things: "In our view, the current asylum system is broken and it is the cynical human smugglers who benefit most from it, who take advantage of the misfortune of women, men and children." Heads of government are calling for "progress as quickly as possible on the entire EU migration and asylum pact and a revision of the Schengen border code and an agreement on legislative proposals that address the migration situation."

Migration to the EU increased again last year after a slump caused by the corona pandemic.

In Austria, the mark of 100,000 asylum applications was exceeded in 2022 – not counting refugees from Ukraine.

Vienna had recently blocked the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area with reference to the increased migration movements, causing upset.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) justified the step in December by saying that "Schengen is currently not working".

fek/AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2023-02-08

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