Vienna (PK) – As part of the debate on the report by the Ministry of the Interior on the plans of the European Commission and the Council for 2023, the Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, answered questions from MEPs at today’s meeting of the Committee on Home Affairs . The issue of asylum and migration was at the center of the debate. The report was accepted by a majority without the Freedom Party votes. As well as for the use of resources from the COVID-19 crisis management fund from February to December 2022.
With a resolution that passed unanimously, committee members suggested examining the possibility of submitting suspicious activity reports to the NS-Reactivation Reporting Office online in the future. Other opposition issues were postponed.
Annual Preview 2023: Minister of the Interior Karner discusses security policy issues at national and European level
The Ministry of the Interior presented its report on the European Commission’s legislative and work program to 2023, the eighteen-month program of the Council of the European Union and the Austrian position on its projects (III-865 dB). In it, it positively evaluates proposals related to better exchange of data across the EU, for example to fight crime – even if concerns about data protection are cited. The interior ministry criticizes many migration policy initiatives that it believes could have an incentive effect.
At the committee, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner began his introductory statement with a look back at the year 2022, which was essentially shaped by the war in Ukraine and presented special challenges to all EU interior ministers. However, it was “impressive” how the EU reacted to, for example, the decision on the Directive on Displaced Persons, which means that there is no need to look at individual cases for the admission of Ukrainian refugees – including in health systems and social. Karner explained that there are currently around 65,000 of them in Austria, of which 52,000 are in basic care.
Another area that also kept all of Europe’s interior ministers busy and is still busy is the growing asylum pressure. According to Karner, the illegal migration of people wishing to enter Europe “under the guise of the asylum law” would strain the Austrian asylum system in particular. Austria registers the second highest number of asylum applications in the EU after Cyprus and ranks fourth in absolute terms. Many of them come from countries with no real chance of asylum in Austria, such as India, Tunisia, Bangladesh or Morocco.
However, countermeasures have already been taken here, for example with the end of visa-free travel for citizens of these countries in Serbia. As explained by Karner, a discussion at European level is now needed on how the protection of external borders can be improved both technically and legally. All EU countries agree on this. These are “more robust” border protection – also through physical barriers – faster procedures at the EU’s external borders or in countries of origin and more readmission agreements. This is the only way to prevent people from making the often dangerous trips to Europe and to ease the asylum system so that those who really need it can find protection, explained Karner.
He also addressed cybercrime, which is steadily increasing, and the earthquake in Turkey, in which the EU’s civil protection mechanism was immediately triggered and Austria also provided emergency aid, relief supplies and rescue teams with 3 million euros “quickly and without bureaucracy” to help.
Asylum and migration dominate committee debate
Asylum and migration issues also came to the fore in MEPs’ questions and statements. SPÖ leader Reinhold Einwallner saw a contradiction in Karner’s position on the distribution of migrants and asylum seekers at national level and his position in the EU. Although he defends distribution among the federal states, he criticizes a European solidarity mechanism. Karner responded to this with a reference to the suboptimal housing situation in large federal districts. At European level, the protection of the external borders and the Schengen system would first have to be put in place again before there could be “talk of solidarity” as far as distribution is concerned. If the solidarity mechanism came into effect, Austria would have to outsource asylum claims to Italy, Karner pointed out. Asked by Einwallner about the status of negotiations with Morocco, Karner said that a joint declaration had already been signed and the guidelines for cooperation on the return had been defined. According to Karner, there is a corresponding mobility agreement with India, which also regulates the entry of qualified workers.
When asked by Hermann Gahr (ÖVP) about the possibility of physical barriers at the EU’s external border, Karner called it “great progress” that for the first time all EU countries agreed to make funds available for technical barriers. This is also a step towards a functioning Schengen area and compliance with the Dublin Convention.
FPÖ MP Hannes Amesbauer was interested in Karner’s position on migration policy initiatives in Britain, whereby anyone entering the country illegally would be arrested, taken out of the country and banned from entering for life. . The British discussion only demonstrates the dysfunctionality of the European asylum system, explained Karner. To prevent individual states from resorting to such measures, it urgently needs to be improved to allow for faster and more efficient returns.
Stephanie Krisper (NEOS) criticized Karner’s migration policy line, for example, with regard to its negative attitude towards relocation in crisis situations or in the context of search and rescue operations. Austria would benefit from a “fair distribution” of those seeking protection. Furthermore, it found it illegal to omit individual checks on persons coming from countries of origin classified as safe under a repatriation directive. Austria was already “excessively overextended” anyway, Karner replied. Therefore, additional “hopes” about possible entry via relocation should not be “raised”. According to Karner, this could encourage people to go to Europe on “broken inflatable boats” and put their lives at risk. He saw a repatriation guideline without individual checks as helpful for people from India, for example.
Christina Kucharowits (SPÖ) and Agnes Sirkka Prammer (Greens) were also interested in the fight against child abuse, especially on the Internet. Karner was convinced that solutions compatible with fundamental rights had to be found here. Expert training to combat cybercrime is now continuing again after the corona-related restrictions, as requested by Christian Ries (FPÖ).
Online form for the registry office for reactivation of NS
A joint initiative by the ÖVP, the SPÖ and the Greens is to look into creating an online form for confidentially reporting suspected Nazi reactivation to the Interior Ministry’s registry office. By specifying categories, the accuracy of reports could be increased and encryption would also ensure greater security, in line with the idea. Creating more avenues for reporting suspicious activity is “certainly not wrong”, said Georg Bürstmayr (Greens), because fascist ideology is still “haunting” many heads, as he put it. Austria has a special responsibility to continue to provide educational work, even if the population’s sensitivity has increased in recent years, said Friedrich Ofenauer (ÖVP). The other two parliamentary groups – FPÖ and NEOS – also approved the proposed resolution.
Sabine Schatz (SPÖ) was pleased, although she perceives the resolution as an “alleviation” of her own concerns. The basis for the committee’s resolution is an SPÖ demand regarding an additional reporting option for citizens at the registry office for NS reactivation (1543/A(E)). In addition to reporting by email or post, it should also be possible to report using an anonymous, state-of-the-art online form. The SPÖ candidacy was not supported by any other parliamentary group and was therefore rejected. Christian Ries (FPÖ) has made it clear that he does not like the possibility of anonymous reporting. It should be possible to question witnesses, he said.
Postponed SPÖ demands: More policing for favorites and right to data encryption
The SPÖ demand for an additional 500 police officers for the Viennese district of Favoriten (793/A(E)) was again postponed by the internal committee. In view of the 200,000 residents of the district, it can be assumed that there will be a shortage of personnel, said Reinhold Einwallner (SPÖ) and criticized that nothing has happened since the candidacy was presented in 2020. In his view, the ÖVP is not willing to solve this problem. ÖVP MP Wolfgang Gerstl, on the other hand, sees responsibility for the “crime tipping point” in Vienna’s city politics. The district’s fundamental problems, such as high youth unemployment, must be “addressed at the root,” he said. Unfortunately, there are not enough applicants for this “wonderful” job in Vienna, said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, emphasizing that the executive in Favoriten is doing an “excellent” job. Douglas Hoyos-Trauttmansdorff (NEOS) spoke out in favor of making the police profession more attractive through administrative simplifications and a concrete solution rather than successive postponements. Content support for the app came from Dagmar Belakowitsch (FPÖ), who spoke of a “chronic” understaffing in large parts of Vienna. Georg Bürstmayr (Greens) attributed this to poor working conditions, among other things.
The SPÖ initiative to fulfill the fundamental right to encrypt private messages (1521/A(E)) was also postponed with the votes of the ruling parties in view of a corresponding EU project. The interior minister is expected to reject the Commission’s proposal to end end-to-end encryption and defend the right to privacy, data protection and encryption. Katharina Kucharowits (SPÖ) is about regulation compatible with fundamental rights, rather than allowing mass surveillance per se, as she said.
Deferred FPÖ demands: “Climate extremism” in report on constitutional protection and asylum law enforcement
FPÖ leader Hannes Amesbauer describes the escalation and radicalization of climate activists’ actions as “climate terrorism or extremism” and proposes creating a separate chapter in the report for the protection of the constitution (3050/A(E)). While one might disagree with the terminology, increased climate patch activities would lock up more police forces and lead to more public resentment, reinforced the timeliness of their concern. Robert Laimer (SPÖ) was in favor of clearly defining the terms. It is excessive to talk about terrorism or extremism, but about civil disobedience, he said. Corinna Scharzenberger (ÖVP) and Georg Bürstmayr (Greens) were also against the use of inflationary terms. “Stay and let stay,” Scharzenberger said. Stephanie Krisper (NEOS) disagreed with the idea of prescribing the content of reports to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The State Security and Intelligence Directorate (DNS) would recognize the risk situation itself. The application was again postponed by the majority of the internal committee.
With reference to the riots in Linz on Halloween 2022, the FPÖ is committed to a “self-reliant security and migration policy” and to the protection of the Austrian value base so that asylum rights are limited and reviewed regularly (3046/ A(E)). In the event of untrue statements or a final conviction, asylum processes must be negatively certified, which is what the proposed resolution intends, which was also postponed today. While Georg Bürstmayr (Greens) said it was wrong to link the incidents to a debate on the asylum law, Ernst Gödl (ÖVP) was of the opinion that they were indirectly related to the asylum law. For him, there is no doubt that the legal options for deporting weavers from criminal asylums must be tightened. With yet another initiative postponed, the FPÖ calls for the resumption of deportations to Afghanistan and Syria ( 3084/A(E)).
NEOS postponed requirements: Distribution in the EU asylum system and accommodation obligations of federal states
With a proposed resolution (2757/A(E)), NEOS representative Stephanie Krisper advocates a fair distribution of people seeking protection within the EU, which was postponed today by the committee in reference to the commitment to a European solution. Austria would benefit from a solidarity mechanism, she said.
Furthermore, NEOS finds abuses in the accommodation of asylum seekers and criticizes that most federal states do not meet their quotas. In order to end this “distribution and management crisis”, both a right of way for the federal government to provide accommodation ( 3030/A(E)) and a sanctioning mechanism ( 3131/A(E)) are proposed if federal states and municipalities do not fulfill their accommodation obligations. NEOS representative Stephanie Krisper interpreted the fact that the tents had to be set up for accommodation as a sign that basic services were still not functioning properly. With her suggestions one can counter human, organizational and budgetary deficits, she said. The two demands were also postponed.
€3.5 million from the COVID-19 Response Fund from February to December 2022
According to the January 2022 report (III-578 dB), resources from the COVID-19 crisis management fund were not budgeted for the Ministry of Interior for 2022. However, the February to December 2022 report (III -870 dB) reveals that a corresponding application for funds worth €3,495,056.38 was submitted to the Ministry of Finance. Of this amount, €2,495,056.38 refer to personnel expenses related to the loss of income due to segregation measures by law enforcement officers. €1,000,000 was spent on material expenses such as respirators, antigen and PCR tests. The majority of the report was accepted without the Freedom Party votes. (internal closing committee) wit/fan