"Krone" guest commentary

The promised city of Vienna

Christian Baha is a stock market expert and founded Austria's first stock exchange terminal in 1993, which delivers data in real time. In 1996, he established the world's first hedge fund for private investors. Baha has always pursued the vision of making funds for wealthy individuals accessible to smaller investors.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

Austria is a country of immigration. One in five of the nine million people who live here were born abroad. Without these 1.8 million immigrants, we would have the same population as in 1974 and would be shrinking. That's why we need immigrants who want to live, work, pay taxes and integrate honestly in one of the most liveable places on earth. However, real problems for society are caused by those who only come here because they see Austria as a source of cash and free healthcare.

It is worth looking at the sources that migrants use to find out about lucrative destination countries. In relevant internet forums, it is not Austria that appears as the promised land, but rather Vienna. It's all about access to the healthcare system, social benefits and money. Vienna is number 3 on the list for refugees worldwide after Berlin and Stockholm. It is estimated that the high minimum security costs us over a billion euros this year.

In fact, it is this short-sighted generosity that is spreading like wildfire on the internet. And exacerbates the problem. In 2022, Austria had the highest number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Syria in the EU in relation to its population. The majority are now living in Vienna at state expense with another 200,000 refugees. Is it any wonder that hospitals, kindergartens and schools are threatening to collapse under the burden?