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12. 06. 09. - 15:00

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12. 06. 09. - 15:00

Fekter announces criminal asylum applicant crackdown

People’s Party (ÖVP) Interior Minister Maria Fekter has announced a crack down on criminal asylum applicants.

Fekter said yesterday (Thurs) the new measures would help make Austria "one of the safest countries in the world."

Under the proposed measures there would be faster expulsion proceedings against applicants who have been charged with crimes by the public prosecutor and broader use of preventive detention for applicants facing expulsion from Austria.

Fekter, who said the number of applicants in preventive detention had risen from 5,400 last year to 8,700, said a new detention centre, probably to be located in Leoben, Styria, would be used for the accommodation of more applicants in preventive detention.

The minister added x-ray procedures would be used to determine the age of applicants who claimed to be minors and therefore exempt from deportation.

She added applicants in fake marriages with Austrians would also face expulsion. In the past, only Austrians involved in such marriages have been liable to punishment.

Fekter said she wanted the measures to become law by 1 January 2010.

The minister added the measures had been consulted with coalition partner Social Democrats (SPÖ) before being publicly presented.

ÖVP General Secretary Fritz Kaltenegger said the ÖVP supported Fekter’s plans, adding that opposition parties the "blue-orange agitators," [a reference to right-wing parties the Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ)] and the "Green dreamers" [a reference to the Green Party] "didn’t have a clue" and were out of contact with reality on the issue.

But the FPÖ and the BZÖ have claimed Fekter’s plans had not gone far enough while the Greens said they were "a delusion."

Constitutional experts Bernd Christian Funk and Heinz Mayer warned today that Fekter’s measures, if they became law, might be unconstitutional and violate the Geneva Refugee Convention.

An upsurge in crime for which foreigners have been partially responsible has become a political issue in Austria, and coalition parties SPÖ and ÖVP fear the FPÖ will be able increasingly to exploit it in future election-campaigns.

Austrian Times

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