In what is described by Austrian media as a bid to increase his party’s popularity before parliamentary elections this autumn, Austria Chancellor Karl Nehammer will present his Österreichplan (Plan for Austria) in a speech in the northern city of Wels on Friday, January 26th.
Migration will be one of the main issues addressed in the speech, with Nehammer planning to announce a much tougher approach:
- only those who have resided legally in Austria for five years would receive full social benefits;
- asylum seekers would receive vouchers instead of cash hand-outs for the first five years;
- anyone who receives social benefits and is able to work will be obligated to do community service;
- asylum seekers’ valuables would be confiscated “to cover the costs.”
Nehammer wants to “consistently combat the abuse of our social system,” and points to Denmark as a good example. The Scandinavian country is one of the toughest on asylum and mass migration within the entire European Union, despite having a social democrat-led government.
The Austrian Chancellor would also mimic Denmark in seeking a way to deport non-EU foreign convicts to prisons abroad. Although Copenhagen signed a deal with Kosovo in 2022 to send 300 foreign prisoners there, the government failed to gather the necessary support in the Danish parliament to fund the prison. Nehammer also aims to restrict the movement of failed asylum seekers to prevent them from going into hiding before being deported, and would set up asylum centres outside Austria to handle applications.
However, the government would still encourage legal migration: foreigners would fill 200,000 job vacancies, after taking German language courses. In addition, Nehammer will pledge to make his plan the “programme of 5 million people”—the number of tax-paying adults currently in Austria—meaning they would pay less in taxes and earn more in pensions.
As Austrian publication Kronen Zeitung points out, the Österreichplan seems like a last-ditch effort to pull the chancellor’s party, the centre-right People’s Party (ÖVP) out from its low position in opinion polls. ÖVP—which is in a coalition with the Greens—is currently polling in third with 20% of the votes, while anti-immigration, anti-globalist Freedom Party (FPÖ) is riding high with 32%.
Migration is a hot topic in Austria: the country has faced a growing number of migrants entering the country in recent years, with 112,000 people seeking asylum in 2022. Though the number decreased last year—56,000 migrants claimed asylum from January until November—it was still the third-highest number since the beginning of the migration crisis. A recent report says migration has cost Austria a whopping €21.6 billion in ten years.
Reacting to Nehammer’s upcoming announcement, FPÖ replied:
The ÖVP has already lost all its credibility with regards to asylum and migration policy. ÖVP Interior Ministers are responsible for all negative records for asylum applications in Austria being broken. In view of this disastrous record, who can still trust the ÖVP?