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05. 11. 09. - 16:00

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05. 11. 09. - 16:00

Fekter supports eastern military presence

By Lisa Chapman

People’s Party (ÖVP) Interior Minister Maria Fekter has backed a continued military presence in Austria’s eastern border areas to fight illegal immigration.

She said yesterday (Weds) she supported the army remaining in those areas in 2010, adding residents in Lower Austria and Burgenland were happy for the military to stay.

A decision on keeping the troops – who had been deployed in a campiagn to provide more security and help prevent illegal immigration into Austria - is expected to be made on 19 November.

"I will not oppose it," she said.

Fekter claimed efforts to combat rising crime after expansion of the Schengen area to Austria’s east had been successful.

"The measures undertaken by the police have worked, and the trend of rising crime has reversed itself," she said.

Fekter added that she opposed re-imposition of border controls on Austria’s eastern frontier, as some politicians had called for. "I believe there is a broad consensus that we do not want that," she said.

Social Democratic (SPÖ) Defence Minister Norbert Darabos said he wanted to maintain a military presence in the east.

He added that it could be as large as 1,500 soldiers although only half that many were conducting patrols there at present. "That is sufficient, in my view," he said. He had said last August he was "100 per cent" in favour of keeping troops in the provinces.

The minister said: "It is a success story. I stand by this operation. What can be better than to make people feel more secure by taking such a measure?"

He added that a poll had shown that 86 per cent of people in Burgenland, 83 per cent in Lower Austria’s Bruck an der Leitha district and 86 per cent in Lower Austria’s Gänserndorf district supported a military presence in the east of the country.

Austrian Times

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