Austria plans to tie social assistance to integration duties

Austria plans to make integration courses compulsory for people seeking social assistance, ORF reported, after state integration ministers discussed proposed changes at a conference in Klagenfurt on Friday.

The planned Integration Obligations Act is due to take effect on 1 January, alongside a new social assistance law. The rules would require German and values courses. The article said 7,400 asylum applications had been filed since the start of the year, the lowest number in years.

Integration Minister Claudia Bauer of the Austrian People’s Party said asylum seekers would have to work if they were able to. People who refuse to integrate would lose access to social assistance, she said. Those granted asylum would generally receive one-third less assistance than Austrian citizens and would have to wait four months for the basic amount. They would also need to meet the requirements, including completing the mandatory integration programme.

Carinthia has recently made an online German course available to asylum seekers for use on their phones. State Governor and integration official Daniel Fellner of the Social Democratic Party said it teaches the first 100 everyday words and phrases from day one.

The federal government and states could also impose administrative fines for refusing to integrate. Lower Austria’s integration official, Martin Antauer of the Freedom Party, said the federal government must define which actions count as refusal before states can issue penalties.