Vienna’s Asylum Controversy: NEOS Boss Defends City Amid Debate on Family Reunification and Social Welfare

2024-04-22 21:55:14

NEOS boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger defended the city of Vienna in the ZIB2 interview yesterday evening on the question of the distribution of those entitled to asylum and their relatives who are currently coming from Syria via family reunification. Because the majority of those entitled to asylum are in Vienna, there are now problems in the federal capital, which is governed by an SPÖ-NEOS coalition – such as too few classes in schools. Meinl-Reisinger called for “Austria-wide solidarity”. However, according to the lawyer Walter Obwexer, a residence requirement contradicts EU law anyway.

There is currently discussion regarding a residence requirement as a condition for receiving minimum income for those affected. NEOS has been calling for this for a long time, but there is a lack of support from other parties, especially in the federal government.

A resolution by the city government that calls on the federal government to act is seen primarily as a gesture even by the SPÖ. Meinl-Reisinger distanced himself here from the Viennese SPÖ.

Obwexer: Contradicts EU law

However, according to the European law expert Obwexer, the idea of ​​a residency requirement, which was recently floated by AMS boss Johannes Kopf and is intended to relieve Vienna’s financial and social policy burden, has no chance of being implemented. As he emphasized to ZIB2, according to EU law, those entitled to asylum must be treated the same as domestic social welfare recipients. If implemented, the latter would also have to be prevented from moving to another federal state. The Green Social Minister Johannes Rauch had previously referred to the legal problem.

Also wants to convince FPÖ voters

NEOS boss Meinl-Reisinger wants to “look forward” following the sobering results for her party in the local elections in Salzburg and Innsbruck. “We have five months,” she said, referring to the National Council elections in the fall. She also warned once morest those forces that “want to destroy” Europe.

Regarding the fact that, according to surveys, the FPÖ is very popular, the party leader said: “Surveys are surveys.” She also wanted to “address people who have lost faith in politics, perhaps in democracy, and in the ability of politics to solve problems – and would also like to address FPÖ voters, especially in the European elections, because at the moment you really have to say: What the FPÖ is doing is the direct path to poverty in Austria and not a good future for us.

1713832573
#NEOS #boss #federal #government #act #residency #requirements

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.