12,500 refugees left Austria last year, 3,371 of them forcibly. Recently, the number of new asylum applications has been falling.
The number of asylum applications in Austria is falling. The Interior Ministry announced over the weekend that 2,600 people sought protection in February. That was 600 fewer than in the same period last year. The ministry expects a further decline in March.
The number of refugees who have left the country once more, both forcibly and voluntarily, became known over the weekend. In response to a parliamentary request from NAbg. Hannes Amesbauer (FPÖ) that a total of 12,500 people have left the country. What is striking, however, is that the largest group were Ukrainians, i.e. people who automatically have protection status in Austria and the EU and do not have to undergo an asylum procedure. According to the Interior Ministry, 2,341 Ukrainians left Austria. In principle, you can settle in any country in the European Union. The second largest group to leave the country voluntarily were Serbs, followed by Albanians. Most deportations were to an EU country, namely Slovakia, followed by Hungary and Romania.
Even if the number of asylum seekers is falling at the moment, the debate regarding new accommodation for migrants continues. In an open letter on Sunday, Linz Mayor Klaus Luger (SPÖ) called on Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) to cancel the contracts for two planned asylum centers in Linz with a total of around 400 places “with immediate effect”. The minister should also commit himself “not to rent any mass quarters in Linz in the future”. The city government’s strategy of only renting units with around 50 childcare places should be respected. A former hotel at Linz’s main train station is to become a refugee quarters for up to 300 people. In addition, an object of the ÖBB in the Unionstraße should offer space for up to 100 asylum seekers. The location represents “a social overload”: “The resentment that quickly spread among the people of Linz harbors social explosives.” There is the impression that the will of the population is being “entirely ignored” by the federal government, writes the mayor.
The Federal Agency for Care and Support Services (BBU) stated that it had “the legal mandate to provide quarters”. After the rental contract for such a federal quarter is regarding to expire, she is obliged to “compensate for the resulting reduction in overall capacity with new quarters”.
