"Krone" commentary

“Only” asylum for 26,500 is a trivialization

Analysiert für die „Krone“: Andreas Mölzer(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

These days, the Ministry of the Interior is giving us some really good news: the asylum statistics for 2023 show that there were "only" around 59,000 asylum applications in Austria - half of 2022. And of these, "only" 26,500 migrants were granted asylum or subsidiary protection status.

ON THE ONE HAND, any reduction in illegal immigration must be welcomed. And in itself, measures that make our country less attractive to smugglers and illegal migrants - such as benefits in kind instead of cash - are sensible.

OTHERWISE, however, the 26,500 mentioned still represent an annual increase in the population of a medium-sized city. And the question of where the remaining 23,000 rejected asylum seekers have remained is also not answered by the conjecture that they left of their own accord. There were only around 5,000 "out-of-country transfers", as deportations are euphemistically called.

If you consider the expected family reunification and the future influx of migrants, including the number of submarines, it is only a question of mathematics until the autochthonous Austrians become a minority in their own country.

Even today, at weekends for example, the street scene - not only in the country's large cities, but also in the smaller ones - is dominated by black-bearded young men. Cheering is therefore absolutely inappropriate.