Austria’s Interior Minister has expressed his intention to resume deportations to Afghanistan and Syria.
Gerhard Karner of the People’s Party (ÖVP) was responding to a parliamentary inquiry from the Freedom Party (FPÖ). He noted that 140 citizens of these countries departed voluntarily last year, with 101 returning to Syria and 39 to Afghanistan.
The announcement follows a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court last week, which effectively permits the deportation of rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to their homeland. Deportations to Afghanistan had been temporarily suspended following the Taliban’s assumption of power in August 2021.
The Constitutional Court stated that conditions in Afghanistan had sufficiently improved to avoid “a serious individual threat” to deportees.
Read more: Court Resumes Afghanistan Deportations
Responding to the inquiry, Interior Minister Karner said deportations cost Austria €3.7 million last year. These involved transfers to destinations across Europe and beyond, including €303,000 spent on returning 22 individuals to Iraq and €425,000 on deporting 58 individuals to Bulgaria.
