Austria and Denmark aim to strengthen their cooperation on asylum and migration issues as Austrian Integration Minister Susanne Raab embarked on a two-day visit to Denmark Tuesday.
For her two-day visit to Denmark, Austrian Integration Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) is set to meet with Danish Integration and Migration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek and experts and aims to exchange views on social benefits and migration in particular.
The purpose of the visit is to acquire fresh perspectives on the potential structure of a novel social welfare model, according to the chancellery.
Denmark became a source of inspiration for Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s ÖVP party, which now plans to have social benefits paid in full only to immigrants who have been in Austria for five years.
“Such an approach would also be welcome for Austria because newcomers are encouraged to integrate more quickly into the labour market,” Raab said before her visit, APA reported. “Own performance and integration are prerequisites for receiving social benefits”, she added.
Raab will also visit Mjølnerparken, a Copenhagen district known for failed integration policies, as she aims to learn from Copenhagen’s strategies in combating parallel societies.
Additionally, she will meet with Denmark’s Culture Minister to discuss media policies in the digital age on Wednesday and with the Danish Minister for Equality and Women’s Affairs to address gender equality issues.
Efforts for closer cooperation continue
The collaboration between Austria and Denmark will persist effortlessly following Raab’s return. Austria will welcome Integration Minister Bek on Thursday and Friday; he will discuss with Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) the reformation of European asylum and migration policies.
During Bek’s visit, Karner intends to present Austria’s border protection measures at the Hungarian border in the Austrian state of Burgenland. Austria recently tightened border controls with Hungary after the Hungarian government released foreign prisoners convicted of people smuggling.
The right-wing FPÖ criticised Raab’s visit to Denmark on Tuesday.
“Apparently, the members of the ÖVP government can get good advice from abroad dozens of times, but in the end, they will not implement any of it,” said FPÖ security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer in a statement, APA reported.
(Chiara Swaton | EURACTIV.de)
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