Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig has made a push to make it easier for asylum seekers to work while they wait for their applications to be processed despite strong pushback from the opposition.
Migration is high on the agenda in Austria. Chancellor Karl Nehammer recently stressed that refugee numbers are up 200% – while housing facilities are already strained due to an influx of Ukrainian war refugees.
However, Ludwig of the social democrat SPÖ said he is in favour of assessing whether asylum seekers could be integrated into the labour market while their applications are still being processed.
People who have a good chance of staying here should be integrated into the labour market more quickly, he told ORF on Sunday, citing the labour gap expected as a result of the wave of retirements from the baby boomer generation.
Vienna, both Austria’s capital and one of its nine states, is located near Hungary. As a consequence, the capital is the only state to meet its refugee housing quota, he noted. Ludwig called for solidarity from other states.
“Vienna’s city leader obviously lives in a completely parallel world. There is no other explanation for today’s statements,” Vienna’s conservative ÖVP commented.
The far-right FPÖ also condemned Ludwig, saying it would raise “false hopes” among asylum seekers “that they may stay.”
Source: euractiv.com
