Austria to tighten airport asylum procedures, expand sanctions under new EU rules

GENEVA

Austria’s government has unveiled national measures to implement the EU’s new Common European Asylum System, including longer airport procedures and expanded sanction options for asylum seekers.

The national public broadcaster ORF reported Thursday that the package allows authorities to hold asylum seekers arriving by air at Vienna-Schwechat airport for up to 18 weeks, extending the current six-week limit.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the reforms would "deprive smugglers of their business basis," presenting the measures alongside State Secretary Jorg Leichtfried and Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger. Karner said, according to the report, the new rules open the way for application centers and "exit hubs," adding: "The migration transition will only work if we take advantage of expanded opportunities."

Leichtfried said Austria would pursue "consistent returns," while Meinl-Reisinger stressed the need to "organize and control migration and consistently implement returns," pointing to new migration agreements enabling readmissions.

Under the plan, all airport asylum procedures will be centralized in Vienna, and recognized refugees will be required to sign a binding "Charter of Values," the report said.

"In the future, all asylum seekers will sign the ‘Charter of Values’ as so-called house rules, which are about recognizing the basic values of our republic, our democracy, our constitutional state," Leichtfried said and warned that sanctions are possible for non-compliance.

The government also plans to introduce additional sanction options within basic care by defining new offenses that would allow penalties to be imposed in cases of misconduct, Karner said when outlining the national implementation of the EU rules.

The package also expands biometric data collection and lowers the age for registration from 14 to six.

Opposition parties criticized the plans. The Greens' Sigrid Maurer said the measures "clearly fall into the show politics category.