At the German border

Austria is standing firm on asylum refoulement

In future, people applying for asylum should also be turned back at land borders - but only in coordination with neighboring countries. Austria rejected this.

(Bild: Groh Klemens)

The governing coalition between the conservative CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats in Germany is about to enter the home straight. In the event of cooperation, they plan to turn asylum seekers away at the borders. Austria refused to accept these people, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Shortly afterwards, Chancellor Christian Stocker calmed down a little to the German newspaper Bild ...

The leaders of the CDU/CSU and SPD had previously agreed on a common course in German migration policy. According to the agreement, people applying for asylum will also be turned back in the future when land border controls are expanded - but only in coordination with the respective neighboring country.

Austria on a confrontational course
As previously feared, Austria is opposing Germany's plan and is taking a confrontational stance. According to the Ministry of the Interior, people applying for asylum should not be turned away informally at the border under current EU law.

The Ministry of the Interior has therefore instructed the relevant state police directorates "not to accept" refusals of entry by the German authorities in violation of EU law. Furthermore, reports are to be submitted "immediately" in the event of such observations.

In contrast, the Chancellor - and party colleague of Interior Minister Gerhard Karner - Christian Stocker was more unifying: "It is pleasing that Germany is also committed to taking consistent action against illegal migration. We have been advocating effective measures for years, in particular robust external border protection. Because the better the external borders are protected, the fewer problems there will be at internal European borders."

However, he also stated that Austria would "take effective measures" should asylum pressure increase due to rejections from Germany. 

Austria: Restrictive asylum measures planned
The new Austrian coalition of ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS is itself planning restrictive measures in the areas of asylum and migration. For example, family reunification of persons entitled to protection is to be temporarily halted.

The CDU/CSU and SPD are planning a similar step, which would affect relatives of refugees with restricted protection status. Austria's federal government also reserves the right to trigger the EU emergency clause in the event of an increase in asylum applications and to stop accepting new applications altogether.

Polish nationalists protest against plans 
Another neighboring country is also protesting against the plans of the CDU/CSU and SPD: in Poland, right-wingers and nationalists have temporarily blocked border traffic in Frankfurt an der Oder and Slubice in protest against Germany's migration policy. Videos on Platform X on Saturday showed many Polish flags and wooden planks with barbed wire. There were traffic obstructions in the border area.

At the German-Polish border near Frankfurt (Oder), there is resistance to Germany's migration policy:

Polish nationalist Robert Bąkiewicz justified the actions: "Today we have erected barriers on the border with the Germans. If the government does not defend us, we will defend ourselves," he wrote on X and spoke of wanting to prevent "uncontrolled migration". As the regional newspaper Gazeta Lubuska reported, the gathering at the border bridge over the Oder was called "Resistance to the migration policy of Donald Tusk's government".

According to the Polish Border Guard, more than 15,000 asylum applications were registered in 2024. Warsaw also points out that it has taken in more than one million refugees from Ukraine since the start of the Russian war of aggression.

A repatriation center is being built near Poland in Brandenburg
A new "Dublin Center" is due to start work on 13 March in Eisenhüttenstadt, Brandenburg, near Poland, with the aim of speeding up the return of asylum seekers to other EU countries. Migrant transfers are to be organized there, primarily to Poland. This involves so-called Dublin cases - i.e. migrants who have to go through their asylum procedure in another EU country because they first set foot on European soil there.