Austria almost wants to close the Mediterranean migration route

Under the leadership of the new interim EU president, Austria, Europe is heading towards the complete closure of the migratory route through the Mediterranean. This was demonstrated by Thursday's visit of German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz

Seehofer came to Austria to reassure Kurz: as far as Germany is concerned, there will be no conflict are returned. The Austrians feel overwhelmed by the compromise between the CDU and the CSU reached in Germany on Tuesday, which includes plans for migrant centers on the German-Austrian border. From there, people who had already registered in another EU country would be sent back there. Austria feared recovering migrants whose status was unclear.

In Austria, when more than a million migrants left the country in an uncontrollable way, 2015 is still fresh in the memory. At a press conference broadcast live on Austrian television, Kurz said on Tuesday that he would not accept German decisions to the detriment of Austria: "We are ready to take national measures in response to German national measures. "

Austria has threatened to close the border with Slovenia. This should prevent migrants from accumulating in Austria – although there are now far fewer migrants due to "the agreement with Turkey" and the ban on the organizations of Help in the Mediterranean. Like Seehofer, Christian Democrat Kurz, along with the far-right coalition FPÖ, likes to show that he is acting strongly against illegal immigration. To convince the Austrians that "2015" will not happen again, Austria recently practiced with the new force "Puma", which consists of stopping migrants at the border.

The closure of the Austrian border with Slovenia is off topic after Seehofer's visit, but in Germany and Germany the German plans are not going well. Seehofer said Thursday that Germany will return most migrants to these countries, because most people arrive and are registered there.

Germany points out that for many years it has provided by far the largest number of asylum permits from all EU countries. Italy and Greece have already called for the redistribution of migrants arriving in their country without status.

Due to the constant transfer of responsibility, the leaders of the European government see only one solution to end the jellyfish and, as a result, the possible closure of national borders.

"Next week there will be a meeting between the German, Austrian and Italian interior ministers with the aim of closing the road from the Mediterranean to Europe," Kurz said Thursday after his consultation with Seehofer. Previously, he already mentioned a new Berlin-Vienna-Rome axis, which would radically change the EU's migration policy.

Stopping the illegal migration across the Mediterranean is in line with the results of last week's EU summit, termed a "paradigm shift" by Chancellor Kurz.

European government leaders then decided to "landing platforms" for migrants rescued from the sea in North Africa. It remains to be seen if the countries of North Africa agree with this. This plan is a long-time wish of Austria, precisely now that the country, as EU President, will be able to set the agenda for half a year and to make concrete proposals.

The European way of dealing with migrants and refugees is increasingly determined by right-wing radical parties. Sometimes it's because they're in government, like the FPÖ in Austria and the Lega in Italy. Sometimes it's because parties, like the German AfD, are so opposed that government parties want to ban all illegal immigration.

Landing Platforms

Concrete plans for "landing platforms" and associated migrant camps in North Africa for the time being no. "I am convinced that there are countries in the region that want to participate," Kurz said Thursday during his consultation with Mr Seehofer. He announced a conference with African countries in the autumn. That migrants in camps can apply for asylum for Europe is not clear either. Austria is concerned that such camps would be very attractive if this were the case.

Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said on Wednesday that Austria has the right to seek asylum when migrants still arrive in Europe. is no longer considered sacred. The UN Refugee Convention, and the resulting EU rules, had the best time for Kneissl. "All instruments date back to the 1980s, before globalization, then you've always had real political refugees, they're still there, but they're being replaced by big groups of young men from different countries who are leaving for economic reasons and act for example as Syrian war refugees. "

According to Kneissl, Austria wants to bring the" authorities to the people and no longer the people to the authorities ". This implied that Austria is in favor of legal migration channels from Africa. That's also what Kurz said on Thursday, but, as for platforms and landing camps, there is currently no concrete proposal.

Meanwhile, Austria is in favor of additional support to the Libyan Coast Guard, which must bring back migrants to Libya on the Mediterranean Sea. Chancellor Kurz's motto: "It is only when European external borders are protected that European internal borders can remain open."