Vienna: The Austrian parliament has adopted one of Europe’s most restrictive refugee laws, allowing the government to declare a state of emergency if the number of migrants threatens “national security.” It may also directly reject refugees at the border.
The toughest-ever bill, passed by 98 to 67 on Wednesday, allows the Austrian government to declare a state of emergency if the number of migrants unexpectedly goes up, thereby posing “a threat to national security.”
Depending on the situation, the state of emergency could be extended for three more six-month-long terms. Under the new law, border control officers would also be given the right to refuse entry to nearly all migrants, with only a few exceptions for those facing safety threats in a neighboring transit country or those who already have relatives in Austria.
Some other vulnerable groups like unaccompanied minors and pregnant women would be kept exempt from the harsh rule.
The special measures will also oblige migrants to file their asylum applications directly at the border in registration centers which are yet to be built, contrary to a previous practice of letting the refugees into the country. They may be held for up to 120 hours while their application is being verified.
Wedged between Europe’s two main refugee routes — the Balkans and Italy, Austria received around 90,000 asylum requests in 2015, the second-highest in the bloc on a per capita basis.
Many brave a short but dangerous sea journey from Turkey to Greece, before trekking up through the Balkans toward western and northern Europe. More than a million people, primarily from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, landed in Europe last year, triggering the continent’s worst migration crisis since the aftermath of World War II.
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