As “profil” (online) reports, the states might conclude an agreement that states the following: Only the federal state in which the person was domiciled during the asylum procedure is responsible for providing minimum security to refugees.
If they then moved from Tyrol to Vienna, for example, there would no longer be any social benefits there. The refugees would not be able to submit a new application. According to Kopf, this would be regulated via a so-called 15a agreement between the federal states. If the entire family lives on minimum income, the losses would be even higher if they moved to Vienna. Conversely, such a “social assistance requirement” might keep people in regions where there is more work and they can get out of the minimum income more quickly.
Is Vienna itself responsible for the dilemma?
Die Neos have been calling for a residence requirement or residence requirement since 2016. It should keep recognized refugees in the first federal state in which they received asylum for a period of three years. The mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig (SPÖ). Die ÖVP has not yet gotten involved in debates and sees the federal capital solely responsible for the large number of family reunifications. The social benefits, which are sometimes significantly higher compared to federal states, would increasingly attract refugees to the capital.
On Saturday, Styrian Governor Christopher Drexler (ÖVP) called for a “new regulation of family reunification for those entitled to asylum, which would lead to a significant limitation” in a broadcast. Austria and Styria are already more than challenged by migration “from other cultural groups. If hundreds more people are added through family reunification, this will no longer be possible.”
Residence requirement based on the Swedish model
Municipal Association President Johannes Pressl is not on the ÖVP party line. He said in an interview with “profil” that he would welcome a residency requirement based on the Swedish model. In Sweden there is basic support for refugees for three to six months, combined with a residency requirement. He doesn’t believe in tearing people away from the living environment they’ve been used to for years, but he is convinced: “Integration can generally be more successful in communities and smaller towns if close connections to the village community or even friendships are created.”
Just “a drop in the ocean”
For the Viennese FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp, Kopf’s demand is just “a drop in the ocean.” Nepp is convinced that asylum seekers are doing too well in his hometown: “The fact is that asylum seekers are drawn to the social welfare paradise of the Ludwig SPÖ from the start because, in contrast to other federal states, milk and honey flows there for them.” He calls for the payment of the minimum income to be linked to Austrian citizenship and for family reunification to be stopped in general. “Family reunification, yes, but only in Syria and Afghanistan,” the Viennese FPÖ chairman is quoted as saying in a broadcast.
