Sold for fools?

Kickl: “We haven’t managed anything since Merkel”

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Reinhard Holl, Krone KREATIV)

The FPÖ leader wants a course correction - especially in the asylum system. But he also wants to turn his political style towards the people.

He appears relaxed despite the intense election campaign. FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl drums up his favorite topic of asylum in the krone.tv "summer talk" (video interview above), because the topic is once again dominating the public debate after the attack in Solingen.

krone.tv: You have posters saying "Your will be done". What is the will of the Austrians?
Herbert Kickl: This country needs a change of direction. In recent years, many decisions have been made over the heads of the population. In 2015, 2016 or during the corona years and now with climate communism, there was and still is a problem: a self-appointed political elite is imposing something on the people without anyone having been asked. This is exactly what the poster alludes to. We want a turn towards the people.

As part of the "Krone" initiative "The Voice of Austria", the FPÖ leader spoke to krone.tv about the issues that concern Austria the most.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Reinhard Holl, Krone KREATIV)

Asylum, migration and radicalization are currently hot topics again. Asylum seekers have access to the labor market, but this has not solved the shortage of skilled workers ...
If you want to solve the labor shortage via the track of "new migration", then we are on the wrong track. When the so-called refugee crisis began in 2015, we were told that this would solve the shortage of skilled workers. And the second thing they told us is that these great workers will guarantee our social security with the contributions they pay into the social system. Now we see from the example of this Syrian family, exactly the opposite is the case - they are plundering our social welfare instead of filling it. The truth is: ever since German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in 2015: "We can do it", we haven't actually been able to do anything. Unless we want to abolish ourselves. If that was the intention, then we have succeeded. That's why we need a course correction.

+4

Fotos

Speaking of course correction: The "Krone" calculated that your deportation record as Interior Minister is just as good as that of Interior Minister Gerhard Karner. You managed 33 deportations per day. So you didn't manage the migration problem that much better ...
I compare it to a ship that has a leak. I took over a ship like that at the end of 2017. A large number of people came through the huge hole. The very first thing an interior minister has to do is plug this hole. And that's exactly what I did. Take a look at the numbers of new asylum applications: They were at their lowest during my time. I had fewer than 13,000 asylum applications in the best year. But I didn't say at the time: "Wow, how great." Instead, I had a target of zero.

The chancellor calls for more deportations in the "Krone" interview. The ÖVP and FPÖ would have to agree on that ...
We made a motion in parliament that deportations to Afghanistan and Syria should be carried out. No party went along with it. That's why the ÖVP's credibility is literally shot to hell. Let me give you another example: in 2016, the SPÖ-ÖVP introduced an upper limit. At the time, they said that if this upper limit was exceeded, Austria would no longer accept asylum applications. The ÖVP has been above this limit, which it defined itself, every time and has not taken any of the measures it promised. Before the election, after all these years of empty promises, to say: "But now, when I'm finally chancellor, I would do something." That's taking the public for fools.