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VIENNA: Austria’s conservative-led government said on Friday it is offering Syrian refugees a “return bonus” of 1,000 euros ($1,050) to move back to their home country after the fall of Bashar Assad.
Conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer reacted quickly to Assad’s overthrow on Sunday, saying the same day that the security situation in Syria should be reassessed so as to allow deportations of Syrian refugees.
Deporting people against their will is not possible until it becomes clearer what direction Syria is taking. For now, Austria’s government has said it will focus on voluntary deportations. It has also stopped processing Syrians’ asylum applications, as have more than a dozen European countries.
Like many conservatives in Europe, Nehammer is under pressure from the far right, with the two groups often seeming to try to outbid each other on tough-sounding immigration policies. Syrians are the biggest group of asylum-seekers in Austria, a European Union member state.
“Austria will support Syrians who wish to return to their home country with a return bonus of 1,000 euros. The country now needs its citizens in order to be rebuilt,” Nehammer said in an English-language post on X.
How many Syrians will take up the offer remains to be seen. With national flag-carrier Austrian Airlines having suspended flights to the Middle East because of the security situation, the Austrian bonus may not even fully cover travel.
An economy class one-way ticket in a month’s time to Beirut, a common starting point for those heading overland to Damascus, currently costs at least 1,066.10 euros ($1,120.58) on Turkish Airlines, according to the company’s website.
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party came first in September’s parliamentary election with around 29 percent of the vote but, as no potential coalition partner was forthcoming, Nehammer is leading coalition talks with the Social Democrats and liberal Neos.