Lower Austria weighs sanctions for asylum seekers resisting integration

Lower Austria is considering stricter sanctions for asylum seekers deemed unwilling to integrate, including possible reductions in basic welfare payments. ORF reported that the measures could eventually lead to exclusion from the system.

About 5,900 people currently receive basic welfare support in Lower Austria. Most are war refugees from Ukraine, while around 400 are asylum seekers.

Udo Landbauer, the Lower Austria FPÖ leader and deputy governor, said in a television interview that recipients would have to sign an integration code from autumn. Violations, including criminal offences, could result in reduced benefits and, as a last resort, complete exclusion from basic welfare, he said.

Andreas Achrainer, managing director of the Federal Agency for Care and Support Services, said sanctions for people refusing to integrate were already legally permitted. They are currently being applied in federal care and in the provinces of Vorarlberg and, soon, Styria.

However, the sanctions could affect only financial support, Achrainer said. “Sanctions are possible, but they cannot go down to zero,” he said. Food and accommodation must continue to be provided, although payments could be withdrawn up to that point.

Moving to another province would also not be straightforward, despite Landbauer’s suggestion that sanctioned asylum seekers could relocate from Lower Austria to Vienna. Asylum seekers are assigned to individual provinces, Achrainer said, and changing provinces requires the consent of the receiving province, which is rarely granted.

Those affected could appeal against a reduction in basic welfare. The Caritas charity criticised the proposal. Christoph Riedl, secretary general of Caritas in the Diocese of St Pölten, said asylum seekers in Lower Austria received about seven euros a day to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner. Further cuts could push people into acute poverty or homelessness, he said.

Caritas largely supports the contents of the proposed integration code, including equality between men and women and compliance with rules and laws. But Riedl said integration also had to be supported, including by allowing asylum seekers to enter the labour market.

Mathias Czaika, head of the Department of Migration and Globalisation at the University for Continuing Education Krems, said the code included important aspects such as language and basic values. However, he described integration as a two-way process involving both individuals and the host society.

Czaika said threatening tougher sanctions would increase stress for those affected and could harm social relations by placing primary responsibility for integration on individuals while relieving the majority society of responsibility.