Latest update : 2016-04-27
Austrian lawmakers on Wednesday passed one of Europe's toughest asylum laws as the country's political leaders struggle to halt the surging far-right.
The controversial bill, which passed by 98 to 67,
allows the government to declare a "state of emergency" if the migrant
numbers suddenly rise and reject most asylum-seekers directly at the border, including those from Syria and other war-torn countries.
Rights groups, religious leaders and opposition parties have blasted
the legislation as a violation of international human rights
conventions.
Earlier, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi denounced Austria’s plan
to curb migrant flows by tightening border controls at the Alpine
Brenner Pass between the two countries.
The Austria plan was “shamelessly against European rules, as well as
being against history, against logic and against the future", Renzi said
in a statement.
But Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka insisted his country had
no other choice as long as "so many other European Union members fail
to do their part" in relation to a surge in the number of migrants on
the continent.
"We cannot shoulder the whole world's burden," said Sobotka.
More than a million people, primarily from Syria, Iraq and
Afghanistan, landed in Europe last year, triggering the continent's
worst migration crisis since the aftermath of World War II.
Wedged between Europe's two main refugee routes – the Balkans and
Italy – Austria received around 90,000 asylum requests in 2015, the
second-highest in the bloc on a per capita basis.
‘National security’
To reduce the flow, the EU recently struck a controversial deal with
Ankara, under which all "irregular" migrants reaching Greece after March
20 will be returned to Turkey.
Although the pact has led to a sharp drop in arrivals, the
International Organisation for Migration last week warned that the
numbers were "once again ticking up".
Under Austria's new law, the government can now declare an emergency
if the migrant flow threatens the country's "national security".
Border authorities will then only grant access to refugees facing
safety threats in a neighbouring transit country or whose relatives are
already in Austria. Some groups including minors and pregnant women will
however be exempt from the rule.
Refugees stranded
The record number of refugees has boosted populist fringe parties
across Europe, pressuring traditionally centrist governments to adopt a
much firmer stance on migrants.
The restrictions in Austria are similar to tough rules introduced by
the right-wing government in neighbouring Hungary last year.
"These are extremely dangerous tools that are being sharpened here,
especially if they fall into the wrong hands," warned the leader of the
small NEOS opposition party, Mathias Strolz, ahead of the vote.
It came after the candidate of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe),
Norbert Hofer, sent shock waves through the political establishment by winning the first round of a presidential ballot on Sunday.
The two candidates of the ruling centrist coalition failed to even make it into the runoff on May 22.
The FPOe also looks set to do well in the next scheduled general election in 2018.
Trying to stem voter desertion to the far-right, Austria's government
erected border fences and introduced an annual cap on asylum-seekers.
It also pressured other countries along the Balkan trail to close
their frontiers earlier this year, effectively shutting the route to
migrants.
The clampdown left some 54,000 migrants currently stranded in Greece.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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