FPÖ pilot project

Payment card for asylum seekers in Lower Austria from June 1

Lower Austria's asylum councillor Christoph Luisser (FPÖ)(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

The measure to introduce payment cards for asylum seekers has been debated for a long time. Now it's a done deal: Lower Austria, where the ÖVP and FPÖ are in government together, will introduce such a payment card on a partial and trial basis on June 1. After an initial test phase, the project could be rolled out nationwide. 

New regulations will apply to asylum seekers in eight selected accommodation facilities in Lower Austria from Saturday. As reported by "Profil", payment cards from the provider Pluxee (formerly Sodexo) will be distributed in these homes instead of cash bills. "These locations were specifically chosen to test the functionality of the card in both urban and rural areas. The aim of this measure is to make Lower Austria unattractive as a destination for asylum seekers on the one hand and to fulfill the legal obligations to provide asylum seekers on the other," explains Asylum Provincial Councillor Christoph Luisser (FPÖ).

Lower Austria's State Councillor for Asylum Christoph Luisser (FPÖ)(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Purchase of alcohol is to be prevented
The new payment card is intended to prevent the purchase of tobacco and alcohol and to prevent transfers to potential traffickers. After a pilot phase, the project will be evaluated. This evaluation will decide whether the measure should be extended to the entire province or whether further adjustments are necessary to increase its effectiveness.

A card system for asylum seekers had already been discussed by ÖVP Interior Minister Gerhard Karner in February. A model was to be presented by June with the involvement of the federal states and aid organizations, it was announced. "I welcome the fact that Lower Austria also wants to switch to benefits in kind," reacted Karner on Wednesday. "The experts at the Ministry of the Interior have drawn up a proposal here, which I will present at the conference of the responsible provincial councils on Tuesday," the Minister of the Interior looked ahead.

Where the new rules should apply
According to Lower Austria's ÖVP Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Lower Austria would like to lead the way as a pilot state. Because "if it works for us as the largest federal state, it will work everywhere", she said in an initial statement. As the "Krone" newspaper has learned, this is to include asylum accommodation in Mitterbach am Erlaufsee, Lilienfeld, Horn, Kirchberg an der Pielach and two homes in Traisen.

Criticism comes from Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz, spokesperson for the Austrian Asylum Coordination. "In principle, there is nothing wrong with the digitalization of payment methods. However, we are experiencing a veritable proliferation of support cards here, as the federal states will rely on different solutions. The ÖVP and FPÖ just want to outdo each other with tough measures. All this on the backs of the refugees and at the expense of the taxpayer," he says.