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Austria ‘grossly deficient’ in the fight against corruption, EU says

Austria has come under fire in a report on corruption, which lists serious shortcomings including a lack of transparency.

Published: 13 January 2023 16:47 CET
Austria 'grossly deficient' in the fight against corruption, EU says
An inner view shows the Austrian Parliament in Vienna on December 20, 2022. (Photo by VLADIMIR SIMICEK / AFP)

The latest report of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) attests to Austria’s gross deficiencies in the fight against and prevention of corruption, according to newspaper Der Standard.

Among other things, the report criticises a lack of transparency and political influence in appointments to law enforcement positions.

READ ALSO: Energy, corruption, labour shortage: Austria’s plans to face its major challenges

Since 2006, Austria has been a member of the Group of States against Corruption, to which another 48 European countries and the USA belong. Greco regularly evaluates the efforts of its member states in the fight against corruption. 

The current report, which is still unpublished but made available to Der Standard, is the result of the fifth round of evaluations; it deals primarily with the federal government, the police and the Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAK).

According to the report, everyday corruption in the police sector is not an issue in Austria.

However, several interlocutors of the GRECO working group noted that top jobs in the police force are awarded under strong political influence. According to the anti-corruption campaigners, this “undue” influence in awarding assignments should be stopped.

Lack of transparency

The group also looked at corruption prevention in government and found that increased attention needs to be paid to the analysis of risk factors for corruption around the highest political officials such as chancellors, vice-chancellors, ministers, secretaries of state and general and cabinet staff, the report said, according to the Standard.

GRECO recommended disclosing the financial circumstances of relatives and partners of these top political figures, although this “does not necessarily have to be made public”. Additionally, transparency is needed when appointing general secretaries, the report added.

READ ALSO: ‘Ibizagate’: What you need to know about the Austrian political corruption scandal

In total, the report is set to make 19 recommendations. These includ the implementation of the EU Whistleblower Directive, a cooling-off period for top officials who leave politics, disclosure of contacts with lobbyists, and creating a code of conduct for ministers and other top politicians.

Greco slams that major legislative projects such as the Transparency Act, which is intended to abolish official secrecy, or the reform of the criminal law on corruption have been delayed – although the latter is now to be approved.

It added that the prevention of conflicts of interest is a challenge that requires increased attention.

The group wants to receive a report from the Austrian government by the end of June 2024 on which of the recommended measures have been implemented. After that, as customary, a new evaluation will take place.

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POLITICS

How Austria’s centre-left SPÖ party plans to change integration policy

Asylum, migration, and integration policies are a much-debated issue in Austria, particularly as the country heads to its national elections in the fall. What are the centre-left SPÖ plans?

Published: 24 June 2024 12:12 CEST
How Austria's centre-left SPÖ party plans to change integration policy

National elections in Austria will take place this fall, and one of the most debated issues – certainly one that has been driving voters for the past few years – is the refugee and asylum policy debates. 

While the far-right party FPÖ has gained popularity with extremist views such as closing off Austria entirely for asylum seekers, the centre-right ÖVP has also presented tougher stances. The chancellor’s party has publicly defended the creation of “asylum centres” for processing outside of the EU borders. Chancellor Karl Nehammer has also fully supported the UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers to “safe third countries”. 

A tougher stance on refugee policies has proved popular in Austria, and the centre-left SPÖ party has also seemed to lean toward stricter ideas more recently. However, since the party got a new leadership, a precise migration programme had not been presented yet. However, the issue was pressing, particularly following the party’s poor performance in the EU elections, when migration played a key role.

READ ALSO: How a change in the profile of asylum seekers is impacting Austria

So what are the party’s plans?

The SPÖ presented a new” masterplan” for asylum, migration, and integration. According to the SPÖ, the “Doskozil-Kaiser paper,” which has existed since 2018, has been “sharpened,” resulting in an “offensive paper” with approaches for action, said SPÖ leader Andreas Babler.

The aim was to “ensure balance and order” under “the premise of humanity”, said Babler at a press conference in Vienna.

The plan’s main points include faster procedures at the EU’s external borders, a fair distribution of refugees within the EU, and sanctions against countries that refuse to do so. With this, the SPÖ wants to reach a 75 percent reduction in the number of asylum applications. 

For example, the party leaders mentioned Hungary, where there were only 45 applications in 2023, compared to almost 60,000 in Austria. They said Hungary had to be persuaded to cooperate by exhausting all legal and political means.

The SPÖ proposes procedure centres along the EU’s external borders so that procedures can be completed more quickly and people do not hand themselves over to smugglers. The EU should set up “common centres for asylum applications”, for example, in embassies. 

People should only be distributed within the EU once the asylum applications have been assessed favourably. As a first step, cooperation between individual states could occur without the consent of all EU member states.

READ ALSO: When do Austrians think an immigrant is successfully integrated?

‘Integration year’ and deportation

The SPÖ plan contains an “extended mandatory integration year” that would ensure refugees get “German and values courses.” However, severe penalties, including deportation, would be imposed for serious offences or “repeated minor crimes.” 

Instead of mass accommodation, the SPÖ proposes small centres enabling better contact with the population. Women’s rights should also become a “central guiding principle for integration”. Women’s self-determination is the top priority, said SPÖ women’s spokesperson Eva-Maria Holzleitner.

The party reiterated that asylum is fundamentally a human right that should never be questioned. However, those who are denied their asylum request would be deported to their country of origin or safe third countries, the party advocates. 

READ ALSO: Who needs to take Austria’s integration exam?

Criticism from the right

Over the weekend, party representatives from far-right FPÖ and centre-right ÖVP have come out to criticise the SPÖ proposals. 

An FPÖ spokesperson said the plan is “pure PR policy” and that, in truth, the SPÖ had “always opened the door to illegal mass immigration under the guise of asylum”. The ÖVP said the proposals are just “headlines instead of concrete proposals for solutions”. 

In a press release, the party said that no capacity limit was presented, showing “that the SPÖ has still not realised that illegal migration cannot be countered by further squeezing the Austrian taxpayer”

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