VIENNA — Austria’s leader on Tuesday praised Britain as a “pioneer” in outsourcing asylum procedures to places outside Europe, citing a UK bill to send migrants to Rwanda as he hosted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Vienna.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative party has long taken a hard line on migration and faces a strong challenge from the far-right Freedom Party in elections scheduled for this fall.
Nehammer said Austria and the United Kingdom, which left the European Union in 2020, are “strategic partners when it comes to being able to carry out asylum procedures in safe third countries.”
“The UK is a pioneer on this path, which will also be important for the European Union,” he said at a joint news conference with Sunak. “With the Rwanda model, it is pioneering for us to also be able to include asylum procedures in safe third countries on the European Union agenda.”
Austria is one of 15 countries in the 27-nation EU that last week called for more agreements with countries where migrants leave or pass through to reach Europe. That call came after EU nations backed sweeping reforms to the bloc’s failed asylum system.
In late April, the British Parliament passed legislation to send some migrants to Rwanda, clearing the way for this summer’s flights under Sunak’s controversial plan aimed at deterring risky English Channel crossings by people desperate for arrive in the UK.
Human rights activists and immigrant groups have vowed to continue fighting against this policy, which they consider unethical and inhumane.
Sunak said: “We need to look at new ideas, solutions and deterrent measures (expulsions to safe third countries) like the UK’s pioneering plan for Rwanda.”
“It is increasingly clear that many other countries now agree that that is the approach that is required: bold, novel, looking for safe cross-country partnerships,” Sunak said.
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