Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Austria wants out of EU migrant relocations

Austria wants to prolong an expired exemption in an EU-wide plan on relocating refugees and asylum seekers from Greece and Italy.

On Tuesday (28 March), Austria's socialist-democratic chancellor, Christian Kern, said he would send the European Commission a letter with the demand and the reasons behind it.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"We believe an exception is necessary for Austria for having already fulfilled its obligation. We will discuss that with the European Commission," he told reporters in Vienna.

The two-year relocation plan aimed to relocate an initial 160,000 people from Italy and Greece to other EU member states by September. So far, only around 15,000 have been dispatched.

Austria was given an exemption, which expired on 11 March and is now supposed to start relocating around 1,900 people before the September deadline.

Kern's move signals internal domestic political differences over relocation, but also casts an even bigger shadow over an already weakened relocation scheme.

The country's conservative interior minister, Wolfgang Sobotka, had told reporters ahead of a ministerial meeting in Brussels on Monday that Austria was ready to accept 50 unaccompanied minors from Italy.

But Sobotka was contradicted only hours later by the socialist defence minister Hanz Doskozil. Doskozil said Austria would not relocate anyone given its past efforts at the height of the refugee crisis. Around 90,000 asylum seekers came to Austria in 2015.

The two appeared to reach a compromise following an Austrian council of ministers meeting in Vienna on Tuesday, with Kern now asking for a second extension of the exemption from the scheme.

'Not without consequences'

But the EU commission on Tuesday said Austria must start its relocations.

"Austria is now expected to fulfil its legal obligations under the Council decisions to start relocating," EU commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud told reporters in Brussels.

She said no country could unilaterally withdraw from the two-year plan.

"It can only choose to act outside the law, which we would find both deeply regrettable and not without consequences," she warned.

The Austrian move follows tense talks on relocation among interior ministers on Monday.

It also comes after a declaration on stronger integration, which was delivered by the leaders of EU member states over the weekend in Rome.

"The EU's migration policy rests on solidarity, and relocation is a very essential element of this," said Bertaud.

But the issue of solidarity and how it applies to broader migration and asylum policies has left sharp divisions.

Both Hungary and Slovakia are challenging the relocation scheme at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Those cases were lodged at the end of 2015 but are yet to produce any hearings.

The court's advocate general is expected to publish his opinion in May, with a final ruling that could come before the end of summer, according to a source at the EU.

Austria heading for snap elections

Foreign minister Kurz has taken leadership of the conservative party in what could lead to an alliance with the far-right.

Opinion

Letting people drown is not an EU value

NGO boat rescues are being attacked as a pull for migrants, in a harsh logic that letting more people drown would discourage others from coming.

Opinion

Forcing refugees on Poland will do more harm than good

While the principle behind the EU's decision to take action against Poland for rejecting its refugee quota is understandable, the move could have damaging long-term consequences while bringing absolutely no benefit at all.

Analysis

Election in sight, EU mood music changes on offshoring asylum

Designating a country like Rwanda as 'safe' under EU rules to send an asylum-seeker there requires strict conditions to be met first. But a backdoor clause introduced into EU legislation allows a future commission to strip out those requirements.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us