Exactly the opposite is the case: Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (VP) has been in close contact with counterparts of the EU states for weeks in order to find a common approach to Afghanistan and today he contacted the EU Commission with five other colleagues.
Call for dialogue with Afghanistan
Together with the interior ministers of Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece, calls were made for returns to Afghanistan to be maintained, primarily in order to bring Afghanistan out of the EU that had committed criminal offenses. The Commission should conduct an intensive dialogue with the government in Afghanistan in this regard. At the same time, there should be assistance in looking after refugees in Afghanistan’s neighboring countries and support should also be given to Afghanistan in the fight against irregular migration.
“We are sticking to the deportations to Afghanistan. Together with Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands and Belgium we call on the EU Commission to insist on compliance with the return agreement with Afghanistan. This is the right signal for irregular migrants: Don’t even make your way to Europe, “said Nehammer in a statement.
“At the same time, we want to provide help in the neighboring countries of Afghanistan and support the countries in this. Those who have to flee should find safe accommodation there. This also corresponds to the intention of the Geneva Refugee Convention, which speaks of protection in the immediate vicinity of the country of origin and not of admission in a desired destination a thousand kilometers away. Here, too, a joint approach between the EU states and the Commission is required, “said the Minister of the Interior.
SP sees “urgent need for action”
SP chairman Pamela Rendi-Wagner had called on the turquoise-green government today, in view of the increasing number of asylum seekers, 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 SP leader in a statement. “2015 cannot be repeated,” she said.
The rising asylum numbers would show that the asylum policy of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Interior Minister Nehammer “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 initiate such a coalition and get the EU Commission on board, said Rendi-Wagner.
Aside from the domestic political debate, there was also international discussion on Thursday about deportations to Afghanistan. After a joint deportation flight from Germany and Austria with convicted Afghans was stopped for security reasons on Tuesday evening, both countries committed to return to Afghanistan.
