In the podcast “Krone” – Asylum Code: “Applicable rules must also be applied”

From June 1, asylum seekers in the state of Vorarlberg must sign a commitment to take German and values ​​courses and do charity work. State Governor Markus Wallner (ÖVP) confirmed this during a press conference last Friday.

The code is voluntary; no sanctions are planned for the time being
About 1,750 refugees who already receive basic services in the country can also sign the code. “Can” is the key word, because the code is voluntary. Asylum seekers are therefore free to simply refuse to sign. No sanctions are currently planned if the state government refuses to comply.

What exactly will change in the Asylum Act? And what could a successful integration look like? Guests at Krone+ this week: “Krone” editor Philipp Stewart and migration researcher Judith Kohlenberger from the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Crown+: The asylum law is widely regarded as controversial. Can you briefly explain what exactly the Asylum Code is?
Filip Stewart: The asylum law was first introduced in Vorarlberg. Governor Wallner of Vorarlberg of the ÖVP announced this in the autumn. He wants to oblige asylum seekers to take German courses so that they can sign voluntarily, then in principle commit themselves to German and values ​​courses and also take on a few tasks for the general public. The example given was that they could, for example, help with the control of introduced plant species or with pilot services and thus earn some extra income.

Are there any important changes that the Asylum Code entails?
Filip Stewart: A central change is that asylum seekers are arrested for the first time in this phase and they are given the opportunity to take German and values ​​courses. This already exists to a limited extent for asylum seekers; these are the groups where there is currently a relatively high chance of recognition; They must sign a so-called integration declaration. They can now take German and values ​​courses, even if they have not yet received recognized asylum status. There are penalties for this if you don’t follow them. This could mean fines or, in some circumstances, going to prison for having to commit to Austrian and European values. But there are already sanctions in the area of ​​cuts in social assistance paid out by the states.

The asylum law is considered very controversial. But migration researcher Judith Kohlenberger from the Vienna University of Economics and Business explains why this has positive aspects.

Mrs Kohlenberger, what do you think of Vorarlberg’s move with the resolution on the asylum law?
Judith Kohlenberger: The Vorarlberg Asylum Act specifically stipulates that people who are still in the asylum procedure have access to integration offers. Yes, they have to sign a commitment that they will take the courses, but you can also look at it the other way around. Because: The fact that this offer is made to these people actually means that the motto of integration must be met from day one. The current Integration Year Act states that groups with a high chance of residence – so far mainly Syrians – must have access to this integration offer during the asylum process. But the big problem here was that this only worked for a few years due to lack of resources and even extensive and complete German courses could not be offered to asylum seekers. I actually think it makes sense to extend this to asylum seekers. Because most of them will probably stay and valuable time will be lost.

Philipp, could other states soon follow this example? In any case, the governor of Carinthia, Peter Kaiser, and governor Christopher Drexler in Styria are considering Vorarlberg’s move.
Filip Stewart: Absolute. The question will be whether there will be a legal basis for this; Vorarlberg wants to take the plunge here. The question remains whether the other states will also be able to do this as quickly and what the whole thing will look like. Of course, the federal government could also play a role and create a legal basis at the federal level. In principle, however, we are already hearing from some states that there is certainly interest in such an asylum code, although everyone at the federal level would actually like it.

The proposal to legally oblige the states to accept these is not new. At the federal level, the so-called right of intervention existed until 2017, which has now expired. If the quotas in the states were not met, the federal level could take action and distribute the incoming migrants. Judith Kohlenberger mainly refers to the resilience of the system that needs to be built:

Mrs Kohlenberger, what sustainable structures should be created so that a structured asylum and migration policy can be guaranteed?
Judith Kohlenberger: It actually starts with the recording. There have been a lot of discussions here lately about which state is attractive to refugees and which is not. Eight of the nine states do not meet the basic supply quota. And this is not about the refugees leaving; They don’t have that option at all at this stage. But the states do not open shelters, but say: “we have no shelter for refugees”. These accommodations must be kept ready. Keyword: resilience, so that new neighborhoods can be opened in the short term and existing structures can be activated. And if we do not sanction non-compliance with a law, that is, the basic service agreement, then it is toothless. This means that we must actually apply the applicable rules.

Philipp, since the refugee wave in 2015 at the latest, there has been discussion about how refugees in Austria can be received better and more fairly without bringing individual regions to the brink of collapse. To this end, asylum quotas for federal states were introduced. These are calculated based on the respective population size. There are no penalties for non-compliance. The result: Vienna is the only state to have exceeded or exceeded its quota in recent years – currently at 198 percent. Is it true that Vienna is so congested?
Filip Stewart: Vienna never tires of mentioning that they are the only federal state that meets the asylum quota. But it will not bring Vienna to the brink of collapse. I see the problem more with family reunification. It is not only about those who are yet to come, but also about those who are already there. Let’s take the school or healthcare system: the hospitals are overcrowded, the schools in Vienna have to set up container classes. Vice Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos) believes that 350 new students come to Vienna every month – many from Ukraine – and that they need to be accommodated. That means 15 new classes that have to be built every month and that obviously requires teachers and infrastructure and the teachers themselves indicate that they are not really trained for this. Especially when it comes to traumatized children, and many of them also lack the language skills to follow everyday school life. And of course that also costs money: people also use public transport, schools have to be built – there is no federal support for that, Vienna has to bear these costs alone. One of the main teachers’ unions in Vienna has now even called for a suspension of family reunification so that Vienna can meet its obligations, and calls on other states to support family reunification.

What further integration measures would make sense to make life easier for asylum seekers in Austria and not to further divide society?
Filip Stewart: Integration takes place through language, which is essential. However, many experts also see work as an important factor. Previous pilot projects show that the faster people can work, the faster they have social contacts and therefore learn the language faster. We have a significant increase in the number of people who are illiterate in the Latin language and they are receiving very intensive literacy courses from the Austrian Integration Fund. It used to be said that they were only allowed to enter the labor market once they had reached a certain language level. But here a change in thinking is taking place, because people can already work and for some jobs you do not need a high level of language. And we have a serious shortage of skilled workers in Austria and we also need to give the people who want to work the opportunity to practice or learn these skills.

Language and employment are perhaps one of the most important cornerstones of an appropriate integration policy. Austria was and is an immigration country. Economic aspects such as the shortage of skilled workers can be specifically countered here, because the immigration of highly qualified workers has a positive effect on research and innovation and therefore also on productivity and wages. Migration researcher Judith Kohlenberger from the Vienna University of Economics and Business explains what measures need to be taken in the field of integration and asylum policy.

So what needs to change in integration and asylum policy, so that traumatized people and people with a lack of work can receive targeted help?
Judith Kohlenberger: It starts with border policy. The refugees who have arrived with us since 2022 differ greatly in terms of education level and socio-demographic composition from those who arrived with us in 2015. It has been proven that people who have more resources tend to flee first. While the second and third cohorts generally have a lower educational status. Moreover, most people are on the run for weeks or months on the Balkan route, usually with long stays in transit countries. They experience a lot of border violence and opposition and to be honest, people come to us with a huge range of problems and don’t find the environment here to deal with them.

And this topic is being kept quiet because we are helping to produce this package through the European border regime. And this is where we have to start: because of this border violence, destroyed people are arriving here. Of course, this is not just a labor market problem, it is also about safety. So it is not just about integration issues. The fact that, according to OECD studies, we perform so poorly in education despite high investments is not a problem that can be attributed solely to refugee children. But that is precisely where the problems crystallize. In research we call this the ethnicization of structural problems. There is no doubt that family reunification is a challenge and that countermeasures should have been taken much earlier, that was foreseeable. But it must be made clear that this depends on a system in which we are not well positioned anyway.