After push from Vienna

Residence requirement for refugees: Raab blocks it

(Bild: SEPA.Media KG | Michael Indra | www.sepa.media)

Vienna is facing enormous challenges due to the family reunification of recognized refugees. The red-pink city government is therefore calling for compulsory residence for those affected. Integration Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) is blocking the move: she accuses Vienna of being responsible for the high number of refugees itself.

The Vienna city government wants a residency requirement. This means that recognized refugees who are not working would have to live for three years in the federal state in which their procedure was completed. At a press conference on Tuesday, Raab explained that the debate on a residence requirement misses the point. She accused the federal capital of attracting refugees through higher social benefits.

Several studies had looked at the reasons why asylum seekers and those entitled to asylum come to Vienna, reported the Minister. On the one hand, the existing community plays a role, said Raab. On the other hand, the level of social benefits was also a factor in so-called secondary migration. If Vienna pays higher social benefits than other federal states, this leads to a greater influx of refugees within Austria.

Raab wants to send migrants to work
However, Raab does not want to debate where refugees should be kept on social welfare for the longest, but rather how they can be transferred to the labor market as quickly as possible. She wondered why it was not possible to place migrants in jobs in tourism or gastronomy in the West. Once again, she also spoke out in favor of only paying out the full amount of social benefits after five years of residence.

The federal capital has recently repeatedly complained that family reunification is putting pressure on the education system. Due to the sharp rise in the number of family reunifications, more children of school age were coming to Vienna.

Ludwig wants fair distribution
On Tuesday, Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) reiterated the demand made by NEOS and SPÖ in the federal capital. Vienna has taken responsibility, he said at a press conference. However, a correspondingly fair distribution was expected - in other words, what Austria was also demanding at EU level. The federal government has the competence in this area. However, there is also pressure for solidarity from the other federal states, "which cannot sit back either". Vienna is the only federal state to meet its quota of people in need of basic care.

The head of the Vienna SPÖ at the state party conference at the weekend

(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

It will not be possible to bear responsibility for the whole of Austria in the long term, said Ludwig. The mayor rejected accusations that Vienna was paying out higher social benefits and thus increasing immigration to Vienna. This only concerned benefits for children, as the aim was to prevent child poverty. "Otherwise, we are on average for all other benefits and social assistance. There are federal states that are even higher in some areas," assured the mayor.

Sometimes you get the impression that there is definitely the desired effect of causing problems in Vienna.

Wiens Bürgermeister Michael Ludwig (SPÖ)

This will be addressed further, Ludwig announced. Vienna has also been pushing for a fair distribution for some time. "Sometimes you get the impression that the desired effect is to cause problems in Vienna." Otherwise it would be difficult to explain why the federal government has not taken any major action. "We in Vienna have never politicized this," he affirmed. However, it would no longer be possible for those responsible to sit back and then put Vienna "on display", said Ludwig.

"Residency requirement highly problematic"
Harsh criticism of the demand, which was also raised yesterday in the municipal council by means of a red-pink resolution, came from the Greens. "The plan to impose a residency requirement is highly problematic in terms of fundamental rights because it restricts freedom of movement and therefore discriminates against refugees," Vienna party leader Judith Pühringer stated in a press release. The real problem is that the remaining federal states have been far from meeting their quotas for accepting refugees for years.