SPÖ chairman Pamela Rendi-Wagner calls on the government in view of the increasing asylum figures in Austria to “end their inactivity at EU level and to find common solutions”. She sees an “urgent need for action” in the government and calls for a “coalition of those affected with the EU Commission”. Solutions are needed “instead of show politics, division and escalation,” said the SPÖ leader in a statement to the APA. “2015 cannot be repeated,” she said.
The rising asylum numbers would show that the asylum policy of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (both ÖVP) “has failed across the board”. “No state can deal with uncontrolled migration on its own; the states concerned need to act quickly together with the EU Commission.” It is now necessary “quickly to forge this coalition and to seek and strengthen cooperation in the EU”. Kurz and Nehammer urgently need to take initiatives for such a coalition and get the EU Commission on board.
Because only together can it be possible to establish control over illegal migration. “When refugees arrive in Greece or stand at the Austrian border, it is already too late. We finally have to move away from combating symptoms towards sustainable joint solutions,” said Rendi-Wagner.
According to Rendi-Wagner, such a “coalition of those affected” should implement a series of measures, including the establishment of UNHCR-compliant procedural centers outside the EU, increased efforts in negotiating return agreements and cooperation with Afghanistan’s neighboring states to take in refugees. This “coalition” should also strive to continue EU cooperation with Turkey and “better control of Europe’s external borders”. “Help on site” must also be offered in the sense of a European “Marshall Plan” for Africa and developing countries. This topic, according to Rendi-Wagner, should “not be left to right-wing populists like (the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor, note) Orban”.
