The Pact: A Tightrope Walk

Separate school classes just for asylum seekers

The Salzburg FPÖ identifies many challenges posed by the asylum pact.(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

The EU decision to establish deportation centers in third countries is causing a stir in Austrian domestic politics. The SPÖ voted against it despite similar models existing elsewhere. In Salzburg, however, Deputy Governor Marlene Svazek (FPÖ) is concerned about the financial and organizational challenges the asylum pact will pose for states and municipalities.

Thursday afternoon was the moment of truth in Brussels. The European Parliament adopted its position on the EU Return Directive. The legislative proposal presented by Austria’s EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) provides for significantly stricter rules than before—and lays the groundwork for the Asylum Pact, which takes effect on June 12, and the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). In the future, deportations of illegal entrants are to become easier, and the controversial deportation centers in third countries outside the EU are to become a possibility.

Karner in support, SPÖ opposed
“It is important that the European Parliament has cleared the next hurdle to create the necessary legal basis. We support swift negotiations by the EU Presidency for an early conclusion,” stated ÖVP Interior Minister Gerhard Karner.

The voting behavior of SPÖ representatives at the EU level is particularly noteworthy. The Social Democrats led by delegation head Andreas Schieder voted against it—even though the SPÖ’s Kaiser-Doskozil paper recommends at least a similar model.

The paper —drafted in 2018, a year in which Schieder was still largely serving as the SPÖ’s parliamentary group leader—set the goal of starting earlier and establishing processing centers in third countries prior to the asylum decision. The current EU decision, however, deals solely with deportations for all those with a negative asylum decision. The paper also provides for a UNHCR mandate, unlike the Brussels proposal. “So much for ‘uniting rather than dividing,’” some in the ÖVP shake their heads.

The asylum pact is also causing head-shaking among the Freedom Party, who voted in favor of the deportation centers at the EU level—but are raising other points of criticism. The pact is being celebrated, they say, but it brings financial and organizational challenges for states and municipalities.

Separate asylum-seeker class in Salzburg
For example, compulsory schooling for minor asylum seekers will have to be regulated locally in the future. For the federal facility in Bergheim, Salzburg, this would mean opening a separate class for about 16 school-age asylum seekers. 

“He who orders pays the bill. The federal government has made a decision here and must therefore also provide the financial resources. The state and the municipalities must not be asked to foot the bill for the federal government’s generosity in the area of asylum,” criticizes Salzburg’s FPÖ leader and Deputy Governor Marlene Svazek.