After the number of asylum seekers rose again recently, a debate about citizenship flared up again in Austria. However, the state is not responsible for this, explains Integration Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP).
The number of asylum seekers is currently increasing rapidly,” warns ÖVP Integration Minister Susanne Raab in an interview with “Krone”. “We expect 50,000 asylum applications this year, along with 75,000 registered Ukrainian displaced persons.” In the mild summer, the refugee flow would really accelerate.
Numbers are rising across Europe
And she also presents these figures: Austria was number 2 in an EU comparison in terms of asylum applications per capita in 2021. Former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s promise of a “restrictive course in asylum and integration policy” is not much more left. , is it, Madam Secretary? “Interior Minister Gerhard Karner consistently takes people out of the country so that we can keep our asylum system strict. The numbers are rising all over Europe.”
She views this migration movement with “great concern” – especially with regard to the labor market: “Every second Syrian woman in Austria is unemployed, among Afghan women it is 40 percent.”
Everyone who is here wants to stay here too
Conclusion from Raab: Everyone who is here wants to stay here. That’s why she says to the current discussion, “I don’t condone watering down citizenship.” Isn’t it too hard to get it? “No,” says the minister. “I don’t understand the discussion. It can be requested after six years by particularly well-integrated people.” For example, if you have a high level of German or in health care. Raab: “But you don’t get that automatically. Citizenship is not an obligation of the state, but an obligation of the people.”
Should the high rates be reduced? It is often several thousand euros. “I wouldn’t change that.” A clear rejection from the Greens, who, like Justice Minister Zadić, describe citizenship as “very expensive”.
Source: Krone
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