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EurActiv (6 July 2018)

According to an article by French daily Le Monde, Austria, which currently holds the  six-month rotating presidency of the EU, sent troubling proposals to EU member states to reform the right of asylum. EURACTIV.fr reports.

In a document given to member states and seen by Le Monde, Austria believes that “the EU and the political elites have lost control of the situation” on migration.

The country puts forward an analysis heavily influenced by the governing far-right. Austria believes that migrants are mostly young men “of which many are susceptible to ideologies hostile to freedom or which encourage violence”.

In a controversial move, the document also suggests a reform of asylum policy “which would allow for asylum procedures not to be processed on European soil”.

Austria aims to authorise asylum only to those “who respect the values of the EU and its fundamental rights and freedoms”, by 2025.

Ideological vision

The text stresses that the Schengen Area’s external borders are not safe. The EU’s external borders are curretnly monitored by 3,000 Frontex agents, a number that will soon increase to 10,000  in accordance with the latest decision following the Council.

Austria does not mention the “controlled centres” agreed upon at the EU summit last week. However, it does insist on outside centers which would manage all asylum applications in the future, a position shared by the four Visegrad countries of Central Europe, which tried to impose the establishment of centres outside the EU to manage migration flows.

The text as a whole presents a very ideological vision which is contrary to the existing right of asylum aiming to protect human rights.

Austria believes that “because of their origin and lack of prospects, they (migrants) have repeatedly had big problems living in open societies, and even reject them. Among them are a large number of young men with little or no education. Many are especially susceptible to ideologies which are hostile to freedom or which advocate violence. ”

This vision seems to capture the Chancellor’s intentions for Austria’s EU presidency under the heading “A Europe that protects”. This slogan was originally used by German politicians, French president Emmanuel Macron then took it up, but each use of the phrase carries a different meaning. For Austria, it would mean giving up on humanitarian action and on protecting human rights.

Nevertheless, unlike countries in Western Europe, Eastern European countries increasingly share this vision.