Neustart warns cuts could limit probation support in Vienna
Monday 31st August 2026 on 21:00 in
Austria
Austria’s probation support association Neustart is warning that planned funding cuts could reduce services in Vienna, while the organisation is also being considered as a possible successor to a deradicalisation provider whose cooperation with the government has ended, ORF reported.
The future of support for around 200 former and current Islamists has been unclear since Friday, when the Interior Ministry ended its cooperation with Derad, a deradicalisation organisation. It remains undecided who will take over the work.
Derad had supported some clients for as long as 10 years. The Interior Ministry said it ended the cooperation because there were indications that the Muslim Brotherhood had influenced the organisation. Experts expressed surprise at the decision and warned of a possible gap in services.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said on Monday that he assumed there were many experts who could continue the work. The Justice Ministry, which is responsible for the matter, has not yet provided details.
Nikolaus Tsekas, head of Neustart’s Vienna branch, said the association would not take over Derad’s work in its existing form. “That is not our profession,” he said in an interview with ORF’s Wien heute programme. Neustart could not take on additional work without extra funding, he added.
The association is also facing planned budget cuts announced by the Justice Ministry. Around 2 million euros is expected to be cut from the Vienna branch over the next two years. Tsekas said this could mean losing 10 to 12 employees, either through vacant positions not being filled or, if necessary, through redundancies.
Neustart currently supports around 18,000 people a year in Vienna. The cuts would mean that fewer probation clients could be served and that appointments could no longer take place as regularly. Staff would have to focus on what was absolutely necessary, Tsekas said, warning that this would not reduce crime in the long term.
Negotiations with the Justice Ministry over the cuts are continuing. Neustart has been told there will be no scope for changes in 2027, but sees the possibility of talks about 2028.