An Austrian asylum NGO received more than €5.1 million in public funding from the labor ministry between 2021 and 2025, even as it campaigned against key parts of the government’s migration policy. The group also drew support from other ministries.
According to parliamentary disclosures, the organization Asylkoordination Österreich received the largest sums in 2024 (although funding dropped sharply in 2025). Earlier reports showed it also received money from the sports ministry for anti-extremism and ‘prevention’ projects.
The interior ministry, meanwhile, is said to have given the group more than €8 million between 2019 and 2024. The disclosures followed parliamentary questions filed by the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), which has repeatedly pressed ministers over spending on pro-asylum groups.
The NGO has been openly critical of Interior Minister Gerhard Karner’s policies, including the suspension of family reunification and deportations of Syrians. In March, it helped organize a protest in Vienna against the family reunification ban.
It also joined other pro-asylum groups in lodging a complaint with the European Commission, seeking legal action that could force Austria to end its family reunification freeze.
