Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) wants to see a fence similar to that between the US and Mexico on the EU’s eastern border. At least the German newspaper “Bild” (Saturday issue) quoted him as saying: “We need effective barriers,” as the chancellor demands. “They have to be very high, they have to be deep into the ground and they have to be constantly monitored – technically and in terms of personnel.” Only through this “triumvirate” can illegal immigration be contained.
“Our federal police chief is currently there,” Nehammer adds in the “photo”. He is looking at the US-Mexico border to see what measures are working. Our goal is then to share this knowledge with other EU countries such as Bulgaria in order to better protect the EU’s own borders.”
Against immigration to “better social systems”
Regarding the upcoming summit, Nehammer said that the migration development was “definitely dramatic. There is still an incredible number of migrants waiting on the roads. In Iran alone there are three million Afghans who want to go to Europe. Added to that is the situation in the earthquake zone in Turkey and northern Syria.” , where more than a million refugees from Syria live and have now lost everything again.”
The asylum procedure, according to the advisor, will continue to exist. “The European Union stands for respect for human rights. But it must finally be prevented from crossing many safe countries in order to apply for asylum in countries with better social systems.
Criticisms of SPÖ and FPÖ
Meanwhile, SPÖ criticized Nehammer’s remarks as “symbolic politics”. “The solution-oriented policy has been completely abolished in the ÖVP,” SPÖ security spokesman Reinhold Einwallner said in a radio broadcast. “ÖVP is not about solutions, but only about buzzwords and headlines.” A new European asylum system is needed. “In the EU, concrete solutions have been on the table for years, not implemented, among other things, due to the banning position of the ÖVP. If Nehammer takes Trump as a role model, all is said.”
The FPÖ called for stricter measures at the Austrian border. FPÖ Federal Party Chairman Herbert Kickl made it clear in a radio broadcast that Nehammer should end the “EU shifting of responsibility” and follow Hungary’s example. It needs a “Fortress Austria” and an asylum stop.
More Stories
At least 95 dead in Spain: thousands of people trapped in cars, trains and shopping centres
Will Biden become a burden on Harris in the US election campaign?
Spain: More than 60 killed in the storms