This is what state managing director Roland Frst said at a press conference on Monday. The SP warned against the establishment of a refugee home in Neuhaus am Klausenbach (Jennersdorf district), which, according to the state police, is only a short-term accommodation for first aid.
The SP Burgenland had already warned in mid-February in view of the arrests of illegal migrants: “We knew at the beginning of the year that something was going to happen. The quarters in Burgenland are overcrowded,” said Frst. In the past two weeks alone, 1,200 people were illegally found the limit has come – “the result of serious failures of the Minister of the Interior”. He must therefore resign.
Allegations against Chancellor Kurz
For ten years now, Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (VP) has been largely responsible for the areas of migration, asylum and foreign policy and meanwhile he no longer believes that the Balkan route is closed, said Frst. Kurz also fooled the population when he said, that Austria will not accept refugees from Afghanistan, because at the same time “hundreds are marching across the border”. Almost 8,000 people have crossed the border since the beginning of the year, 20 percent of them from Afghanistan. Of the 8,000 or so people, only eight percent were women and two percent were children, Frst pointed out. It also shows that 90 percent of asylum seekers with a negative decision are not taken out of the country. He stated: “In reality we have numbers, like a left-liberal country with a green, left-wing interior minister.”
SP calls for a restart with consensus
The SP therefore called for a restart of asylum policy beyond party politics: “We need a national consensus in order to master the situation together.” Frst urged investment in asylum centers outside Europe and increased funds for development cooperation. Europe needs a quota for taking in refugees and since Austria has already taken in a large number, this should only be done to a manageable extent in this country for particularly vulnerable people.
An expert in the area of migration is governor and regional party leader Hans Peter Doskozil, who will also comment on the subject in the next few days, Frst announced: “You will not find much more expertise in one person in Austria.” In addition, the SP is planning to “put a lot of pressure” on its members of the National Council.
“People are scared”
The mayor of Neuhaus am Klausenbach, Reinhard Jud-Mund (SP), fears the establishment of asylum quarters in his community. The building is the old police station, which has been vacant for over 20 years and belongs to BIG. He was recently informed by the state police headquarters that it was to be reactivated as an emergency shelter with 40 camp beds. Jud-Mund was surprised because even in 2015 the premises were not needed. The population is now very insecure, and the establishment of a civil defense is evidently being considered, said the local chief: “People are afraid, even if it is said that accommodation is only available by the hour. You never know what is real.” Frst criticized that the population was “deliberately deceived” by the VP, because the district and state party shift responsibility to the country: “Knowing that the country knew nothing and is not responsible.”
Police spokesman Helmut Marban said that the last vacant police station will be used as a temporary office for the first aid of refugees. “This is not an asylum center, nobody will be accommodated for long periods of time,” stressed Marban. All that is needed is a place for initial supplies, for example during the night. So far there has been no need for this.
VP attests “unbearable double standards”
In a broadcast, the VP attested the SP had an “unbearable double standard” in asylum and migration policy. “It has always been the SP that has boycotted a strict approach to migration and is now calling for tightening,” said country manager Patrik Fazekas. Austria is already burdened enough and the federal government is constantly taking measures to protect the national borders and fight organized smuggling crime, Fazekas further emphasized.
