Britain and Austria Agree to Collaborate Illegal Migration, Seek Cooperation on Deporting Migrants

Home Secretary Suella Braverman visits the central synagogue in Vienna after laying a wrea
Getty Images
Oliver JJ Lane

The United Kingdom and Austria have signed a security agreement taking in migration, terrorism, and cyber and are set to enter further talks on cooperation over deportations.

British Home Secretary Suella Braverman visited Vienna on Thursday to ink a new cooperation agreement on fighting terrorism, illegal migration, and cybercrime. It is claimed the agreement could lead to deeper cooperation on the critical question of mass migration and the removal of arrivals to alternative accommodation in Africa.

The accord comes just days after five Nordic nations signed a major new agreement on cooperation on deportation flights.

While in the city Braverman also visited the city’s central synagogue. Like many European cities, Vienna has experienced a surge in antisemitic attacks since the Hamas terror attack against Israel last month, and just days before Braverman’s visit the Jewish graveyard in Vienna had fires set and swastikas painted.

The new bilateral agreement between the UK and Austria is intended to strengthen police and security services cooperation. Austria’s biggest newspaper Kronen Zeitung reports Braverman’s opposite number Gerhard Karner said after the pair signed the memorandum that it would benefit “The cross-border work of the police and the services” in fighting terrorism”.

This, he said, is an “intensive and necessary exchange of information [and] also a central element of our cooperation agreement”.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman signs a joint statement on migration and security with Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner in Vienna, Austria. Picture date: Thursday November 2, 2023. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)

Britain’s Braverman said of the agreement, The Daily Telegraph reports: “The global migration crisis is the challenge of our age, with the UK and the European continent seeing huge movements of people travelling illegally across our borders. This is placing an unprecedented burden on our communities and public services.

“Austria is a close ally in tackling illegal migration, and we have already begun sharing knowledge of our actions and strategies such as third country removals. This joint statement is a commitment to work more closely together to achieve our aims, and enhance our cooperation on a wide range of security challenges.”

In addition to what has been agreed already, both countries left the meeting apparently willing to discuss further cooperation. Britain’s Conservative government has spent nearly two years trying to launch a plan to relocate some asylum seekers to Rwanda, whose government the UK would pay to house and feed those deported.

While the government says the plan would provide a safe place to live for those who have arrived in Britain but who have no right to remain and at a lower price to taxpayers than putting them up in housing and cost of living crisis-hit England, the plan has been incredibly controversial with pro-mass migration activists.

Nevertheless, it is an idea that has clearly intrigued Austria, which signalled its interest in exploring potential collaboration in this area. Per a report in the Guardian, Austria’s own approach to the scheme would differ in that the third-country housing — perhaps in Rwanda — would be temporary while the asylum status of would-be migrants was assessed. Those who passed would be allowed to travel to Austria, while those rejected would be returned to their place of origin.

Karner is reported to have said: “The UK has a lot of experience when it comes to processing asylum applications outside of Europe in the future. That was an important theme in my meeting with the home secretary in Vienna because Austria can benefit from this experience.

“We will continue to make a consistent effort for the EU Commission to advance and enable such procedures outside of Europe.”

The UK’s Rwanda plan was challenged in court and to date not a single migrant has been removed under it, despite it having been announced as far back as Spring 2022. Rwanda itself has reacted with anger at repeated claims by British left-wingers that it is not a safe country fro immigrants, and the UK government has said it received “the assurances necessary” that Rwanda would treat arrivals well.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.