HOW DID THE NEW AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT COALITION CHANGE ITS REFUGEE POLICY?

KOSTIĆ Ana (Ana Kostić, Department of Political Science, University of Wien), ana.kostic096@gmail.com

Since 2015 more than one million migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have arrived on the European soil. The phenomenon of the “European Refugee Crisis” impacted on increased security risk, new economic and social issues as well as on political and geopolitical pressures overall on the European Union and its member states. In order to face the crisis, the European Union and its members had turned to operational actions and political pressures in accordance with its principles of foreign and security politics. This article will focus on a particular member state, Austria, and its political action toward the crisis. Even though Austria was characterized as a part of the “western group of member states”, with the arrival of the new government coalition which was a collaboration of the Austrian People’s Party (conservative party, ÖVP) and the Freedom Party of Austria (far-right part, FPÖ), it tended more to the politics of the eastern group of states especially when it came to the European refugee crisis. Following this, new issues/questions emerged: What are the biggest concerns of the new government coalition? What changes did the Austrian new government implement into European Asylum Law? What is the new treatment for migrants in Austria?

Keywords: European refugee crisis, European Union, Austria, Austria’s people party, Freedom Party of Austria