“Have enough space”: Van der Bellen for hosting refugees from Greece – Austria

Previously, the Vienna superintendent of the AB Evangelical Church, Matthias Geist, had made an urgent appeal to Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) to reconsider his position.

“Let’s make a humanitarian gesture in the sense of first aid. That can only mean getting families with children out of there as a priority,” said Van der Bellen in the “Kleine Zeitung” in the direction of those responsible. They can be families who have already been granted asylum status or those whose procedures would have to be carried out in Austria. Fearing the government that this could trigger new flows of refugees, so it would be better to provide “aid in place”, the federal president replied: “First, local aid does not work, and second: Christmas is the time to look for a shelter, as the cardinal said. Do we really care how people are, even though we can help? We have enough space. “

“Please change your attitude and all members of the government with you,” wrote evangelical superintendent Geist in a letter to Kurz. “Please do not consider political calculations, alliances in Austria or in the EU, but consider whether it is not worth it for all young children to help you, with all our means,” says the letter available to the APA.

Addressing the Federal Chancellor personally, the Protestant superintendent appeals: “It takes more courage to change your mind than to persistently stand by her side, no matter the cost. To openly display human life at the gates of Europe. An evacuation of threatened people can always take place, for charity and / or humanitarian reasons! Every safe place, every quiet community is capable of this. “

And Geist further writes: “The fate of all people is entrusted to us – all of us. Even those who are now in Kara Tepe hour after hour in front of nothing and have to endure in suffering. This condition makes Europe in its values ​​be implausible “, turns the superintendent of the chancellor.

Meanwhile, the director of the Protestant aid organization Diakonie, Maria Katharina Moser, drew attention to the fact that the situation was not only dramatic in the Kara Tepe camp on Lesbos, but also on other islands. “In Samos and Chios in particular, those seeking protection live in completely irrational conditions,” Moser said in a broadcast. Meanwhile, there are also many people in the refugee camps who have already received official protection status. They no longer have access to government support, but they also cannot leave the islands, Moser explained. The director of Diakonie noted that there was a wide wave of offers of aid in Austria and reiterated the call to accept refugees from the Greek camps. At the same time, he asked that no more refugees be sent to Greece.

The Austrian Conference of Religious Orders also called on the federal government to fulfill its responsibility in the interest of humanity and called for the admission of refugees from Lesbos. The situation for people who fled civil war and hunger was precarious and inhumane, he said in a broadcast.

At the political level, SPÖ Federal Director General Christian Deutsch reiterated the demand to “immediately evacuate the camp from the Lesbos slums”. Deutsch again asked the federal government to accept farm children in Austria and held the Federal Chancellor responsible. The fact that Kurz announced at the weekend that he would “beautify the misery of the children with a care center in the ground and the cold instead of ending it” is “regrettable and scandalous” for the German.

Family Minister Christine Aschbacher (ÖVP), for her part, defended the government’s plans. The photos and reports from Lesbos make her “thoughtful and concerned”, but it is important to provide support on the spot. Therefore, with a facility for 500 children, psychosocial support and education will be possible, Aschbacher told the APA on Monday. There is both the means and the concept for the healthcare center to be set up quickly.