Austria does not accept rejected refugees from Germany

The government in Austria has announced that it will not accept refugees who are rejected from Germany. “Austria will not accept people who are rejected from Germany,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) told the . “There is no room for maneuver.” He has instructed the head of the Austrian Federal Police “not to take any refugees back.”

Karner referred to European law. Refugees who apply for asylum may not be rejected informally at the border. If there are indications that another EU country is responsible for the asylum procedure under the Dublin rules, a “formal consultation procedure” must be initiated, Karner stressed. A refugee can only be transferred after the consent of the member state concerned.

Interior Minister Faeser wants to discuss new rejection model with Union

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said on Monday that she had ordered temporary internal border controls at all German land borders. The additional controls are to begin on September 16 and will initially last for six months, the Federal Interior Ministry announced on Monday. The ministry cited the limitation of irregular migration as well as the protection of internal security against current threats from Islamist terrorism and cross-border crime as reasons for the controls now ordered. “We are doing everything we can to protect the people in our country against this,” said Faeser.

She also announced, without giving any details, that her ministry had developed a model that complies with European law and should allow more rejections at the borders than before.

In the past, there had been different ideas from the political sphere, such as that these should be extended to all foreigners without identity papers or to asylum seekers who have already been registered as asylum seekers in another country.

Faeser admitted on Monday that she had “not yet spoken” to the neighboring countries about the new rejection model. She wanted to discuss the model first on Tuesday in talks with the Union and with state representatives. When asked whether more stringent rejections at the German borders would not lead to a domino effect with similar measures in other EU countries, she said: “I don’t fear that.” She was sure that her model was in line with European law.

Union relies on support from European neighbours

CDU leader Friedrich Merz, whose party is calling for consistent rejections at Germany’s external borders, said he was ready to hold talks with conservative heads of government in neighboring countries. Merz said on Monday in Berlin that he was “happy to be ready” for such talks with prime ministers from the European People’s Party (EPP). He had already spoken to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) about this.

CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt expressed the expectation “that our neighboring countries would do something similar” if Germany increased its border controls. When asked about the critical comments made by Austria’s Interior Minister Karner, Dobrindt said he assumed that “our Austrian friends” would also increase border controls and turn people away.

Rejections previously justified exceptions

Rejections at German land borders currently only occur in certain cases: if someone is banned from entering the country or does not apply for asylum. Rejections at Germany’s internal borders are generally only possible where there are controls directly at the border.

In mid-October 2023, Federal Minister of the Interior Faeser ordered stationary controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Since then, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, more than 30,000 people have been turned away. Such controls, which are justified by irregular migration, have been in place at the German-Austrian land border since September 2015. The newly ordered controls directly at the border affect the land borders with France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.