Asylum in Austria

Chancellor: “This changes the overall situation”

Will they get down to business? Karl Nehammer is having a "deportation program" drawn up.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/Max Slovencik, privat)

Since the upheaval in Syria on Sunday, the tone of the refugee issue has changed significantly. Some are vehemently calling for the return of refugees to their homeland - and Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) has now also reiterated to the "Krone" newspaper that asylum is deliberately intended as "temporary protection".

"The fall of the Assad regime is changing the overall situation," Nehammer told krone.at on Monday evening. For thousands of Syrians, the possibility of returning to a safe homeland is within reach, the Chancellor believes.

In principle, everyone is free to return home voluntarily and help rebuild their own country - we support Syrians in taking this step.

Karl Nehammer, Bundeskanzler

Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK

Family reunification also suspended
As previously reported, the Ministry of the Interior has been tasked with reassessing the situation in Syria. In this context, asylum procedures - as well as family reunification - have been temporarily suspended. As a first step, the asylum freeze now affects 7300 open cases in the first instance. 

Repatriation and deportation program
Specifically, the right to stay is now to be reviewed and an orderly repatriation and deportation program to Syria is to be drawn up.

Contacting the EU and Turkey
Further steps now include contacting Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkey alone is home to millions of Syrians) and EU Council President António Costa. The chancellor's office said that the EU would be approached to incorporate the changed situation into its policy.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe)

Experts agree that it is unlikely that masses of Syrians will voluntarily return to their homeland once Bashar al-Assad is removed from power. Coercive measures will probably be needed. However, it remains to be seen whether the change of power will actually be peaceful, say military experts - there are many ethnic groups living in Syria that need to be united.

"Invitation" from Syria
The new rulers from the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) promise peace and have called on their fellow refugees to return and help rebuild the country. It remains to be seen whether these promises will be kept - the Taliban's initial announcements in Afghanistan have not materialized.

A positive side effect: the Austrian social system will be greatly relieved as a result, and the one or other skilled worker with a knife will also disappear from Austria.

Herbert Kickl, FPÖ

Bild: APA/Roland Schlager

The FPÖ would certainly be pleased. Party leader Herbert Kickl has already wished them a "safe journey" on Facebook and made a comment about "skilled knife workers" disappearing.