More integration – Minister: ‘German course is not a full-time job’

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„krone“: Minister Raab, one of the suspects reported after the Halloween riot night, is a large number of young migrants or recognized refugees or asylum seekers. Have we lost this group in integration?
Susanne Raab: Integration works if people also want to integrate. If someone ignores our laws, delivers excesses of violence in the streets, the integration hasn’t even started yet. The goal must then, as the Interior Minister also said, be the full rigor of the law, including eviction of people.

This was not the first violent incident involving the ‘TikTok generation’. What are the lessons?
We just need to see parallel social structures emerge that radicalize through the internet. You must communicate clearly from the outset that you must abide by our values ​​and laws.

This year we are likely to surpass the 2015 refugee crisis record year in terms of asylum applications. There are also 85,000 registered Ukrainians displaced by the war. Can we do it as a country and as a society?
The willingness of Austrians to accept Ukrainians is still high because they have similar values ​​to ours. In contrast to other groups, these are mainly women and children.

In the “Krone” interview, AMS boss Johannes Kopf emphasized that a month of German course is cheaper than a month of social assistance. Is learning the language enough for integration?
The fact is that of those who have received a positive asylum decision in 2022, 7 out of 10 people need literacy. But German courses are not a full-time job. I expect these people to be flexible because of the shortage on the labor market, such as in the hospitality industry in the West. It is better to practice the language at work alongside the German course.