Nehammer’s friend Viktor Orbán is partially responsible for Austria’s immigration problem

2023-07-08 08:34:14

The title of the analysis published by Oliver Das Gupta in Der Standard, considered the daily liberal left-wing newspaper of Austria, actually tells a lot:

The analysis titled „Nehammer’s friend Viktor Orbán is partially responsible for Austria’s immigration problem“ reads as follows:

Very few asylum applications are made in Hungary because refugees are diverted to the West, and primarily to Austria. Prime Minister Nehammer does not criticize his Hungarian counterpart, who is responsible for this, on the contrary, he is courting him at the “Immigrant Problems” meeting in Vienna.

“We have to understand that the EU asylum system is broken and not working,” Chancellor Prime Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) said on Friday during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. After Budapest in October 2022 and Belgrade in November 2022, the “Austria Hungary Serbia” tripartite Migration Summit was held in Vienna on Friday, 2023. The three countries’ foreign and interior ministers and police chiefs also attended the talks at the Austrian Federal Chancellery.

The Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán factor also plays a part in Austria’s immigration problem. But Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer prefers to woo Orbán on Friday in Vienna rather than criticize him. Unlike Aleksandar Vučić, who ended visa-free travel to Serbia for citizens of some neuralgic (India, Tunisia) origin countries, Orbán is acting destructively in Vienna. The Hungarian Government has released the jailed smugglers . Even the far right party FPÖ in Austria complained about this. Hungary, together with Orban and now Poland, is fighting against the EU’s resolution on immigration, supported by the prime minister. We saw it last week in Brussels.

Anyone wishing to prevent illegal (illegal) immigration in Austria should make clear and publicize Orbán’s extremely problematic role. Not with a secondary clause or subordinate clauses like Nehammer. This could strain relations between Vienna and Budapest; It may also anger some supporters of Prime Minister Nehamme’s party, the ÖVP, who sympathize with Orbán. But the people of Austria deserve the truth. (Oliver Das Gupta, 7.7.2023, Der Standard)

What happened

Haber

Nehammer opposes Orbán at the immigration summit in Vienna

Together with Aleksandar Vučić, Austria, Hungary and Serbia agreed to protect the borders and intensify police cooperation in the fight against smugglers.

Yenivatan.at , Vienna

“We have to realize that the EU asylum system is broken and not functioning,” Chancellor BaKarl Nehammer (ÖVP) said on Friday during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. After Budapest in October and Belgrade in November, the Migration Summit was held in Vienna on Friday. Foreign and interior ministers of the three countries and police chiefs also attended the talks at the Federal Chancellery.

Nehammer, Austria together with Hungary and Serbia „asylum brake“ He openly stated at the press conference that he was bored. He said police cooperation between the three countries is good and now an agreement will be signed to prevent organized human trafficking. “This can only be done together, only if you are willing to work together as equals,” Prime Minister Nehammer said of the agreement to be signed.

New task force

In the Memorandum of Understanding signed on Friday, the three countries agreed, among other things, to establish a new task force to jointly improve border protection. Other countries may join this task force. Another task force is to fight the people behind smuggling networks.

“They have already been successful and have been able to arrest hundreds of smugglers,” Nehammer said after explaining that the police authorities of the three countries would need to cooperate even more closely in the future to be able to target those behind the smuggling networks. Let this continue.”

Indirect threat from Orban

After Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán stated at a joint press conference that Europe is protected from immigration pressure thanks to Hungary, “Without Hungary and Serbia, there would have been hundreds of thousands more immigrants in Austria and the EU. Hungary is in a special situation because of the war in Ukraine and the “heavy migrant route” in the south of its country. told. If we do not do our duty, you will be in great anxiety.” he made a kind of indirect threat.

Saying that no one will be allowed to enter Hungarian territory without the asylum procedure, Orbán added that other EU countries should also use this „Hungarian model“. Meanwhile, Orban expressed his rejection of stricter asylum rules, including distribution quotas that the EU agreed on in June. “We will find legal and political ways to resist this,” he said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić also evaluated the decrease in the number of asylum seekers as a tribute to the three countries and said, “I am happy that Serbia contributes to greater stability in Europe.”

Nehammer Orban lied straight up politely

However, at the end of the press conference, Nehammer rejected Viktor Orbán’s claim that due to the measures taken by Hungary, the immigrants could not reach Austria and said, “80% of the immigrants come to Austria via Hungary. For this reason, while there are 45 asylum applications per year in Hungary, there are 109.000 asylum seekers in Austria. Almost all of them came via Hungary. System is not working. We are working to make it better.”

Beginning between protests

The summit had begun amid loud protests. Nehammer greeted Orbán and Vučić in the morning amid the ‘Shame’ slogans and whistles from the demonstrators and spectators at the Ballhausplatz.

Prime Minister Nehammer rolled out the red carpet for his two guests and also placed a cage with guards at the entrance to the Prime Minister’s Office. „SOS Balkan Route” ve „Omas gegen Rechts (Grandmas Against Right)“ About a dozen activists from NGOs called „Schleich di“ (Get out) addressed Orbán and Vučić from the far corner of the square. After the demonstrators chanted slogans in which they emphasized that their door is open to refugees and that “no one is illegal”, they shouted “a curse at the unelected Chancellor Prime Minister (“Nehammer, you gangster, you will be out of the picture soon”)”, causing laughter.

The purpose of the summit was already clear: Nehammer announced that, together with the two partner countries, they wanted to intensify the fight against irregular migration and would focus in particular on the protection of external borders. Since the end of December, Austrian police forces have been with officials there to combat smugglers and irregular migration. Operation Fox deployed in Hungary.

Budapest refuses to cooperate

“As long as the EU doesn’t intervene here enough, we have to help ourselves,” said Prime Minister Nehammer.

Most of the critic’s bodies said, ‘It should be noted that at the beginning of June, the EU agreed on stricter asylum rules, such as expedited procedures at the EU’s external borders. So who opposes this? Budapest.” statements drew attention.

Before the meeting, which will be held for the third time this year, intense criticism came from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International in Austria, as well as from SPÖ and even coalition partners, the Greens. It was noteworthy that they were accused of massive attacks against them.

They also announced that the main route to Austria continues to pass through Serbia and Hungary, as confirmed by experts and various statistics. Hungary in particular almost never accepts asylum applications and instead allows people to cross into Austria. The opposition leader, far-right FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, urged Nehammer to “not only talk to Viktor Orbán, but also be tough on illegal mass immigration like Viktor Orbán in Austria”.

Visa-free regime abolished

Prime Minister Nehammer spoke about Serbia’s position during the first two meetings last year. Countries like India, Burundi and Tunisiae considers it a great success that it lifted its visa exemption after more people from these countries came to the EU via the Western Balkan route. Experts said, “However, it is debatable whether Austria deserves praise on this issue alone. Because larger EU states such as the EU and Germany had already put a lot of pressure on Belgrade to change this.“ they said.

Hungary’s decision to prematurely release hundreds of convicted smugglers from prison in May also caused tensions between Budapest and Vienna. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) had said at the time: “We want a full explanation from Hungary, because we think it is a completely false signal.”

The government in Budapest blamed the EU for this. He stated that Hungary had to take this decision because the EU did not contribute to the cost of border protection, but at the same time punished Hungary by overloading its prisons. (yenivatan.at, News agencies, Der Standard)

Other sources, news, analysis:

It’s actually also Turkey : Prime Minister Nehammer invited Orban and Vucic for migration summit in Vienna

EU Asylum Summit in Luxembourg: EU countries agreed on tougher asylum rules! What about Türkiye?