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Austrias far right demands an EU ‘remigration’ commissioner

Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) on Tuesday called for the government to name an EU "remigration" commissioner after winning the EU elections in the Alpine nation.

Published: 12 June 2024 09:05 CEST

Austrias far right demands an EU 'remigration' commissioner

Chairman of the right-wing Freedom Party Austria (FPOe), Herbert Kickl, and top candidate for the European election Harald Vilimsky stand on stage during an election party in Vienna on June 9, 2024. (Photo by Alex HALADA / AFP)

The FPOe espouses the far-right concept of remigration that calls for expelling people of non-European ethnic backgrounds who they say have failed to integrate.

While it is up to the conservative government to nominate any commissioner, the FPOe said its first nationwide win at the ballot box gave it the right to name someone to the role and dictate their portfolio.

In the EU elections, the FPOe took 25.4 percent of the votes, just ahead of the ruling conservative People’s Party (OeVP) on 24.5 percent.

“What I have noticed in the last few weeks during the election campaign is that there is above all a need for sensible migration policy, that there is a need for remigration,” FPOe secretary general Christian Hafenecker told a press conference.

“We need a remigration commissioner,” he added, putting forward an FPOe official to fill the role.

It is not the first time the FPOe has espoused the concept

In 2023, party leader Herbert Kickl said that those who “refuse to integrate” should lose their citizenship and be expelled.

The notion of remigration is associated with white nationalists who champion the great replacement conspiracy theory.

The theory alleges a plot to replace Europe’s so-called native white population with non-white migrants.

The United Nations rights chief warned in March that the conspiracy theories spread are “delusional” and racist and are directly spurring violence.

The FPOe is expected to top the vote in September’s national elections, but will probably need to find willing coalition partners to govern.

The party — founded in the 1950s by former Nazis — has been part of a ruling coalition several times but has never governed the country of nine million.

READ ALSO: ANALYSIS: What does Austria’s far-right win in the EU elections mean for foreigners?

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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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