Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner called for a “firm and consistent asylum policy“. He did this after a working meeting with Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forsell, who is in Vienna for the annual migration conference of the European International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), Austrian Radio and Television (ORF) reported, BTA reported.
Karner stressed that the two countries are of the same opinion on issues such as external border security, return centers and procedures outside Europe. Forsell said that Sweden, like Austria, needs highly skilled immigrants and that immigration for the purpose of obtaining asylum should be reduced.
Europe needs to become “tougher, tougher and more decisive”, which requires deportations even to countries like Afghanistan and Syria, said Karner. There is much that can and should be done, added Forsell, who saw common interests in the return of rejected asylum seekers.
According to the Interior Ministry, both countries are in favor of making deportations to countries like Afghanistan possible again. Austria, Sweden and 18 other EU countries have sent a joint letter to the European Commission to call for appropriate steps to be taken.
Another central topic was the establishment of deportation centers and the relocation of asylum procedures outside Europe.