In Austria, there is little that is as restrictive as citizenship. It resembles an exclusive club – with one of the toughest bouncers in Europe. In the ongoing government negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos, however, this door policy is becoming a contested bargaining chip.
Actually, the People’s Party, as the eternal mistress of the Ministry of the Interior, always prides itself on being particularly strict when it comes to citizenship. They see the turquoises as a “high good” that must be protected. Now, however, the ÖVP is ready to move. She can imagine giving out the passport “cheaper” if the potential tripartite alliance agrees on stricter laws against radical Islamists in the negotiations, as the Parofil recently reported.
The Social Democrats, on the other hand, have long been calling for easier access to citizenship. For example, because nurses and cleaning staff, who keep everything running, simply cannot afford the pass, as Vienna’s mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) once complained. The Neos are also in favor of a new regulation.
High financial hurdle
Anyone who is currently seeking citizenship usually has to have lived in Austria for ten years and needs money – and not too little. A single person must be able to prove a net salary of 1217.96 euros per month, married couples 1921.46 euros – plus expenses for rent, loan installments or maintenance if these exceed 359.72 euros per month. In addition, there are a number of other requirements for naturalization: good repute and good behavior, German language skills at level B1 – and a knowledge test must also be successfully completed.
In order to overcome the financial hurdles, applicants must earn at least 1400 euros net, says political scientist Gerd Valchars, who has been researching citizenship law in detail for a long time. “This is not possible even for many Austrians.” In fact, according to data from Statistics Austria, almost 1.5 million Austrians are left with no more than 1217 euros at the end of the month, minus housing costs. That is more than 16 percent of the total population. Valchars therefore pleads for a lowering of the current income hurdle.
This is where the ÖVP’s proposal comes in. The chancellor’s party no longer wants to link the acquisition of citizenship to income and the cost of living, but exclusively to actual income. It remains to be seen how high the People’s Party would set this hurdle. But the procedure could at least become simpler.
The butter in the WG fridge
Because citizenship is a bureaucratic monster that eats its way deep into the lives of others. In Vienna, it often takes a year until the first appointment with the authority. Then applicants have to submit a wealth of documents, from the rental agreement to the detailed list of expenses. And the process can fray to such an extent that it is suddenly about the butter in the shared shared refrigerator.
Even if you never say more than “hello” to your roommate, you have to have as much money left over as married couples, even as a resident of a shared flat. There are supreme court rulings on this, says Valchars, “because it is assumed that you necessarily go shopping together in shared flats – and the joint household income is always used”. To exaggerate, the applicant has to laboriously “prove” himself not to touch the flatmate’s butter. If someone in the household receives social benefits, this can also have a negative impact on the proceedings.
Cancelling this tedious official work “is a real relief,” says Valchars. This would bring the law back to the level it was before 2009.
Expensive expatriations
Also because the acquisition of citizenship itself is really expensive. Federal fees are incurred, and each state also levies different state administrative fees for itself – not all according to social scale. “A family with two or three children quickly comes to 5000 to 6000 euros and more,” says Valchars.
In addition, dual citizenship is usually prohibited in Austria. Anyone applying for an Austrian passport must return the old one. Such “expatriations” can also cost money, according to Valchars they can cost up to 2000 euros, depending on the country of origin.
And then, from the point of view of critics, the concept of citizenship of a “high good” harbors a tangible democratic deficit – an argument that the SPÖ in particular has always emphasized among the three parties now negotiating. In the meantime, a fifth of people of voting age in this country do not have Austrian citizenship, in Vienna even a third – these people are therefore excluded from elections. Even children of non-Austrian parents, “who were born and go to school here”, are always considered “foreign”, in contrast to other countries, Valchars criticises. For children, citizenship is tied to the descent of Austrian parents.
Lighter, but also sharper
The fundamental positions of the SPÖ and ÖVP on the subject of citizenship have been quite open on the table for some time. But how do the third parties in the alliance of coalition negotiations, the Neos, actually see the matter? Falling financial hurdles for citizenship have always been a pink position.
In addition to facilitating the necessary minimum incomes, however, one must also think about tightening up in other areas, according to a question from the party – especially on the question of whether the applicants’ understanding of values and society is compatible with the Austrian constitution and other foundations such as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
In practice, this could be done, for example, by adapting the citizenship test – in the sense of a targeted examination of the basic attitude towards the constitution and fundamental values. If there are any abnormalities in an applicant, an in-depth interview could become mandatory to get to the bottom of the background to these attitudes.
The Neos would probably come together with the ÖVP. In the future, the chancellor’s party even wants to involve state security, schools and youth welfare offices in order to check the “values” of the applicants. Without sharpness, it doesn’t work for the turquoises after all.
