The Austrian federal government has prepared a draft law to punish integration refusal with substantial fines and, for repeat offenders, imprisonment. Those who skip ‘values’ and German language courses or repeatedly fail their integration exams could face fines of up to €5,000—or three weeks in prison.
According to the newspaper Heute, the 33-page “integration obligation law” has been under coalition coordination for weeks. The bill ensures that asylum seekers and those granted subsidiary protection are held strictly accountable in the future.
Integration Minister Claudia Bauer (ÖVP) justified the plans by citing a clear “enforcement deficit.” She told the newspaper that
voluntary participation has failed miserably.
Government figures show 48,000 protected persons are currently unemployed, with nearly 13,000 unexcused course dropouts recorded annually.
