Internal bidding

SPÖ asylum dispute: Doskozil now wants to keep quiet

Doskozil and Dornauer outdo each other on the subject of asylum.(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Who is particularly tough on asylum? A bidding war has recently broken out within the SPÖ over the issue. The governor of Burgenland, Hans Peter Doskozil, no longer wants to comment on internal disputes - which he himself helped to trigger.

Doskozil recently proposed an annual upper limit for asylum applications of 10,000. Now the Tyrolean SPÖ regional party leader Georg Dornauer is calling for an even tougher line. In contrast to his party colleague in Burgenland, he could also imagine a freeze on asylum applications. A zero limit, so to speak.

Doskozil no longer wants to comment on this. There are different opinions on this in the SPÖ: "You could go on about this indefinitely," explained Doskozil. It is important that voters know "what makes the person in charge tick politically".

Doskozil does not want to take it to "extremes"
At the beginning of February, the Burgenland state party leader proposed the upper limit of 10,000, as Austria was already overfulfilling its obligations in the asylum system. "I have disclosed our motives and the idea behind it and we will implement this in the basic services," Doskozil confirmed on Monday.

Doskozil regularly disregards the content guidelines issued by party leader Babler.(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Asylum applications are currently in sharp decline. The decline continued at the beginning of the year. In January, 2287 applications were submitted, compared to 4288 in the same month in 2023. Syrians are now by far the largest group of refugees. Unusually, women submitted almost as many applications as men.

The asylum curve is clearly pointing downwards: 

The fact that there has actually been a decline is also reflected in the number of arrivals, especially in Burgenland, which borders Hungary. There were 100 apprehensions there in the whole of January, compared to 2261 in the same period last year. This is also due to a change in routes, which the Ministry of the Interior attributes to increased controls in Austria.

According to Doskozil, the current discussion should not lead to statements "being taken to extremes in the knowledge that no one is likely to be convinced of the opposite opinion." 

Two disagreeing against Babler
However, Dornauer and Doskozil are united in ignoring the stated line of party leader Andreas Babler. When it comes to refugees and asylum, he repeatedly advocates a "humanistic embedding" of people. He also advocates legal escape routes to prevent irregular migration.

Babler recently emphasized to the "Krone" that he does not believe in "power games". When asked about Doskozil's outbursts, the party leader emphasized: "We are now making policy for people, not for offended egos." In mid-February, Babler told journalists that he wanted to strengthen the party's profile again. It would take time for everyone to get used to this.