New BVwG President: “The court is in a good position”

After Harald Perl’s retirement, the black-green tug-of-war over the replacement of the presidential office in the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) lasted 14 months. Christian Filzwieser has been in office for a week now. The long-time chamber chairman at the BVwG was chosen as the third-ranked candidate because the coalition could not agree on the first-ranked head of the Floridsdorf district court, Sabine Matejka.

• Also read: Christian Filzwieser: The third man goes first

“I was an applicant – that’s why it’s not appropriate for me to talk about the application process,” Filzwieser, who is generally recognized as having professional competence, did not want to go into the background yesterday. Despite the quarrels and criticism from the Court of Auditors (RH), “the court is doing well,” said Filzwieser. The BVwG is Austria’s largest court with 620 employees. In a report, the RH criticized procedures that were too long, a lack of training and further education obligations and high fluctuation. He now sees it as a “matter for the boss” to implement the RH recommendations.

Residues reduced

Since 2021, many backlogs have already been reduced. More than half of the procedures are now completed within the statutory period of six months.

• From the archive: Federal Administrative Court: One year without a president

60 percent of the cases concern asylum or immigration law. After the wave of refugees in 2015/16, a backlog arose here, which was only gradually reduced. However, the number of cases pending before the BVwG in this area is now increasing again.

More procedures through the Freedom of Information Act

Around 40 percent of the decisions of the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) would be overturned by the BVwG. “That is a significant number, although it does not automatically mean a statement about the quality of the decisions,” says Filzwieser.

The President expects more proceedings as a result of the new Freedom of Information Act (keyword: abolition of official secrecy). The BVwG itself has proactive information obligations. On the other hand, you are an appeal authority and in certain cases even a court of first instance and are responsible for investigations.

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