Stricter rules

“Clear improvement”: expert on Brunner’s asylum proposal

The refugee issue continues to occupy the Union. The focus is on the issues of repatriation and family reunification.(Bild: P. Huber)

EU law professor Walter Obwexer considers Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner's plan to be a major step forward and does not see any major legal problems with Austria's decision to stop family reunification.

The new EU Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner from Vorarlberg, presented a draft law to combat the major European problem area. There are to be much stricter rules on the issue of asylum. Deportations of illegal immigrants will be simpler and faster in future. The ex-ÖVP Finance Minister announced that entry bans of up to 20 years could also be imposed. And: if an asylum application is rejected in one EU country, the person concerned may not submit a new application in the next country.

"A directive becomes a regulation"
Walter Obwexer, a European law expert from the University of Innsbruck, sees a clear improvement on the previous status from 2008. It is now easier to take people who could pose a security risk out of the country. "It is an addition to the last package. There, repatriation was left out. A directive has become a regulation. That is a big step forward." If the package passes the EU Parliament, asylum procedures will be the same everywhere from June 2026.

The "Dublin procedure"
The law professor also considers the establishment of return centers in third countries to be sensible in the case of corresponding agreements. Each country should also act on its own: through negotiations with other countries. The problems are based on the misguided or failed "Dublin procedure", according to which people who have applied for asylum in a country should also remain there. It did not work. Keyword: waving on.

Family reunification stop: "Good arguments"
Austria's government wants to temporarily suspend family reunification. The country is overstretched in certain areas - such as Viennese schools. It is therefore invoking a paragraph in EU law, a kind of "emergency situation" if public safety is at risk. Walter Obwexer: "Austria has good arguments that this is legally valid."