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Chancellor Kurz reacts in a public video speech to the humanitarian catastrophe in the burned-out Greek refugee camp in Moria.
“The images of Moria do not leave anyone indifferent – but it cannot be that we allow 2015 to be repeated” – with these words Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) makes his position in a video statement published on Saturday, and with him that position the government, on accepting new refugees in Austria:
The photos of the Greek refugee camp (see the slideshow below) it would cause “incredible consternation,” Kurz explains. Especially because in the course of his governmental activities, first as chancellor and now as chancellor, he had to see similar conditions in his trips abroad.
He briefly recalled a visit to an Iraqi refugee camp, where he spoke with people “who were cruelly persecuted by ISIS.” But it was not the only situation in which he had to experience so much suffering:
“During visits to Armenia or the Balkans, to the Roma settlements there, we became aware of the incredible poverty that really exists in our immediate neighborhood,” continues the chancellor. “All of these are experiences in which there is only one emotion that you feel, that is, the desire to help.”
Help on site
But: “Starting from Moria” there are hundreds of millions of people in such need in the world, Kurz begins the political part of his speech: “You realize that if you want to help, you cannot take everyone in Austria”. Instead, help must be provided on the spot, Kurz emphasizes.
It opposes the acceptance of even a small part of the refugees, as requested by the city of Vienna and its own coalition partner, the Greens (Sigi Maurer: “Biting the ÖVP on granite”).
“When I hear that, I have the impression that many do not even know what exactly Austria is doing. That many do not even know if we carry ten, a hundred or even more children a year, apart from the camera and the media coverage,” he shares Kurz in the direction of the critics.
“It is not the correct way”
I wanted to fill this knowledge gap with this: this year alone, Austria accepted 3,700 children, on average around 100 children each week, with a positive asylum decision and offered security in our country. “In the last five years since the beginning of the refugee crisis, Austria has taken in 200,000 people. We are the third most affected country in all of Europe,” explains the chancellor. It already faces “great integration challenges.”
“We have 30,000 unemployed persons entitled to asylum in our country and in the compulsory schools in Vienna more than 50 percent of the children do not have German as their mother tongue,” Kurz said. These figures would show that admitting more refugees “may not be the way to go.”
The head of government recalls the Balkan route: “At the beginning [kamen] Thousands, then tens of thousands, and finally more than a million. The result was: political polarization in Europe, massive overload of the European Union and worst of all: more and more people went to Europe because they thought the borders were open. ”
“Inhuman system”
“Now some immigrants have set fire to the Moria refugee camp and destroyed it to pressure them to keep coming from Lesbos to mainland Europe,” Kurz said of the fire disaster. “If we give in to this pressure now, we run the risk of making the same mistakes we made in 2015.” In view of the burgeoning smuggling business and thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean, Kurz was unable to reconcile “this inhuman system of 2015” with his conscience.
“What we want to do and what we will do is help on the spot,” the Chancellor sets the course for Austria. I wanted to develop a comprehensive package to guarantee, among other things, the care and accommodation of refugees. The funds are also intended to benefit people in need in areas “not currently in the spotlight.” “We are already in discussions with our coalition partner about this.” At the European level, he wants to advocate a “holistic approach”.
“What is not needed is a token policy, but real and sustainable financial support for the affected areas, an economic perspective for the African continent and also effective protection of our external borders.”
