On top of an exceedingly generous welfare system that provides asylum seekers ‘free’ healthcare, subsidies for clothing and school needs, cash for accommodations and meals, along with an income allowance of more than €1,000 per month, all at the expense of the Austrian taxpayer, the Green party’s climate bonus will give additional €6.93 million to the foreigners on basic care.
Under the climate bonus policy, 63,000 non-Austrians, 20,000 asylum seekers from mainly Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan, and 43,000 refugees from Ukraine, all of whom are dependent upon the state for their welfare, will now receive a yearly €110, in addition to the plethora of other cash benefits and social services they receive, the Vienna-based news outlet eXXpress reports, citing Austria’s interior ministry.
According to the news outlet, the €110 bonus now being doled out to the state-dependent asylum seekers is the same amount that’s given to pensioners living in Vienna-Hernals who have paid taxes for decades.
Under the postcode regulations mandated by Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology Leonore Gewessler (Greens), however, asylum seekers living in rural areas, like Reifnitz or Deutschkreutz, are entitled to €220 per month, or twice as much as a taxpaying Austrian living in Vienna is entitled to receive.
As The European Conservative previously reported, Austria, with its population of just under nine million, witnessed the largest percentage increase of asylum applications of any EU member state last year, logging 108,490 asylum applications last year compared to 39,930 registered in 2021. The country’s generous welfare state, more than likely, acted as a pull factor for the migrants.
Under the current system, every migrant who applies for asylum, whether they have legitimate grounds to do so or otherwise, is eligible to receive basic social welfare as long as their application is pending. Additionally, those migrants who have not been recognized as asylum seekers but who cannot be deported due to legal constraints are eligible for indefinite basic care.
When it comes to private rented accommodation, each adult individual on basic care is given €165 a month, while families receive up to €330. On top of that, they receive a meal allowance of €260 per adult, while minors receive €145. As for healthcare, that’s provided at no cost, again at the taxpayers’ expense. There is also an annual clothing subsidy of up to €150, children’s school needs are covered by an allowance of up to €200, and all travel expenses for school attendance are reimbursed by the state.
But that’s not all. Rejected asylum seekers are eligible to receive a minimum monthly allowance, courtesy of the Austrian taxpayer, of €1054 a month. It was revealed in 2017 by the Court of Auditors that those who received this allowance were not required to show any identification, leaving the system open for severe abuse.
