Syria and Afghanistan

SPÖ now also in favor of deporting serious criminals

After Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced on Thursday that he would allow the deportation of serious criminals from Syria and Afghanistan to their home countries, similar statements are now also coming from the SPÖ. Party leader Andreas Babler can certainly imagine "high prison sentences" or deportations of criminals.

In a statement to the "Krone" newspaper on Friday, Babler said: "We cannot tolerate anyone carrying out knife attacks on police officers or condoning these acts. These people must be confronted with all possible consequences of the rule of law, including severe prison sentences and even deportation. This would require repatriation agreements - which the government has failed to achieve for years. I expect Chancellor Nehammer to finally achieve results here. We can't just wait and see and look to other countries instead of taking action ourselves."

"The vast majority of people seeking protection in Austria are people who simply want to lead a good life in peace. They are being discredited by these Islamists and I will not stand for it. That is why we must also show clear red lines," continued Babler.

SPÖ leader Andreas Babler(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Kucher also calls for "very clear consequences"
Red party leader Philip Kucher had previously made similar comments to "ZiB 2" on Thursday. The SPÖ supports this initiative, "because anyone who cheers on murder and terrorism is not really a person seeking protection", said Kucher.

Similar comments were also made by the SPÖ Burgenland. Politicians are there to find solutions and not bury their heads in the sand: "In this respect, it must be possible to deport such offenders in accordance with the law if they commit crimes in our country," said club chairman Roland Fürst on Friday. Specifically, he is thinking of justice centers in third countries where these offenders would serve their sentences and it would be guaranteed that they could not remain in Austria.

Hergovich: "Zero understanding for knifemen"
Sven Hergovich, head of the Lower Austrian SPÖ party, has a similar view: "Kucher is right, I have zero sympathy for knifemen. Tough penalties and consistent deportations are the right thing to do and I have been calling for them for a long time."

Karner welcomes announcement from Germany
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) also welcomes the German announcement. However, Karner made it clear that appropriate contacts would then also have to be established with the respective regimes, including the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Previously, Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) had already agreed with Scholz, whose statement was a reaction to the fatal knife attack by an Afghan on a police officer in the German city of Mannheim. "We must create legal options to deport criminals, dangerous individuals and glorifiers of terrorism, including to Afghanistan and Syria," he wrote on Thursday on X.