European interior ministers strengthen security: success against migration!

European interior ministers strengthen security: success against migration!

Krems, Niederösterreich, Österreich - The Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner took part in an important meeting on April 28 and 29, 2025 in Krems, Lower Austria, together with his counterparts from Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. The focus of the talks focused on combating illegal migration, return and deportation measures as well as strategies against terrorism and extremism. This meeting is viewed as a strong signal for security and cooperation in Europe, as ots.at reports.

Karner underlined the importance of close cooperation in the field of security and emphasized that common interests at European level are of central importance. The statistics of the past few weeks show a significant decline in illegal border crossings on the Burgenland-Hungarian border. Only 19 attacks were registered in the last week - compared to 3,600 interviews in calendar week 41 of 2022. This is an indication of the effectiveness of the current measures.

decline in asylum applications

The asylum statistics for March 2025 also illustrate a decline in the number of applications by 50 percent compared to previous years. Only 58 new asylum applications were made by Syrian citizens. Karner interprets the declining numbers in a European context as a success as a success of joint efforts to improve asylum procedures.

Another important topic of the meeting was to combat online radicalization, especially among young men. The interior ministers confirmed their determination to quickly implement the new EU asylum and migration package, which aims at more consistent repatriations and more intensive cooperation with third countries. In this way, Austria, Germany and other partners take on a pioneering role in deportations to Afghanistan and implement new cooperation models.

collaboration between the states

Nancy Faeser, the Interior Minister of Germany, emphasized the importance of exchange of content and the need for close cooperation with the neighboring countries. Léon Gloden from Luxembourg reported on positive approaches to the returns, but at the same time pointed out the existing administrative hurdles. Hubert Büchel from Liechtenstein underlined the decline in the number of asylum and the need to accelerate procedures.

Beat Jans from Switzerland pointed out the importance of European cooperation and the objectives of the EU Asylum and Migration Spact. State Secretary Jörg Leichtfried also emphasized the importance of international cooperation in the fight against extremism and terrorism, especially in prevention.

migration and labor migration in the EU

In order to create a broader context for migration in Europe, it is important to mention that the EU Blue Card, a work and residence permit for highly qualified people from non-EU countries, attracted around 89,000 highly qualified non-EU workers in 2023. Germany exhibited the largest number of blue cards, with 69,000, which corresponds to 78% of all EU Blue Cards. During this time, Indian citizens received the highest number with 21,000 cards, followed by Russians, Turks and Belarusians, as documented on ec.europa.eu.

Overall, these developments not only show the challenges, but also the progress that can be achieved through international cooperation in the field of migration and asylum. A common procedure in the EU is still considered essential to cope with the complex challenges of migration.