Timeline
The situation at the initial reception center in Traiskirchen (Baden district) is getting worse. As the Federal Care Agency confirms, there is now no room for more refugees. Anger rises in the city.
11.11.2022 10.06
Online since today, 6:10 am
On Thursday, 2,180 people were accommodated at the initial reception center in Traiskirchen. They come from Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, Tunisia or India. According to Mayor Andreas Babler (SPÖ), there are already too many.
“Traiskirchen (the situation at the initial reception center; note) is produced with a large number of deposits, with a quadrupling. All agreements between the state, the city and the federal ministry are denied. We wanted 480 people as the maximum limit. This is a value where you can accommodate quality. The state and federal government are now called upon to finally do something,” Babler told ORF Lower Austria.
500 new refugees daily
The Ministry of the Interior confirms that the initial reception center is full. As it was not possible to accommodate more people in Traiskirchen and all the federal districts were full, tents were set up in advance in Tyrol and Carinthia. In some federal states these tents are being dismantled again – more on this in Asyl: Tirol wants to build container villages (tyrol.ORF.at; 5 Nov 2022).
Refugee tents are dismantled again
The debate on refugee housing between the federal government and municipalities continued to intensify until recently. These discussions should end soon. In some federal states, tents must be dismantled and container villages set up.
The Home Office assumes that pressure on federal states will increase to provide more housing for refugees. More than 500 refugees are detained in Burgenland every day, who subsequently apply for asylum. Once refugees have asylum seeker status, federal states have to take care of them.
Waldhäusl: “No new rooms”
The state councilor in charge of the asylum, Gottfried Waldhäusl (FPÖ), speaks of an “unacceptable” situation. He sees the blame for this on the federal government. “Lower Austria will continue not to provide new quarters. If you don’t get to the root of the problem, if you don’t close the borders, if you finally don’t understand and understand that things can’t go on like this, then there won’t be any support from Lower Austria,” says Waldhäusl – more on that in Waldhäusl: No Asylum Tents in Lower Austria (noe.ORF.at; 15 October 2022).
Currently, 11,000 refugees in Lower Austria receive basic care. Most of them are Ukrainian families and, according to Waldhäusl, there is no understanding or place for economic refugees from other countries.