Austria demanded to deprive Ukrainian refugees of special status

In Austria, refugees from Ukraine, unlike other asylum seekers, receive all the necessary benefits immediately, and this practice should be stopped. This was reported on April 12 by Exexpress, referring to the words of the Minister for Integration, Europe and the Family Claudia Plakolm.

It is noted that more and more large Roma families from the Ukrainian Transcarpathia are being registered in Salzburg — refugees are eligible for all Austrian social benefits, in particular, family allowance, child care allowance and social insurance. At the same time, the members of these families, as indicated in the material, do not speak either Ukrainian or Russian, but have new Ukrainian passports.

"I believe that the decree on displaced persons from Ukraine should be immediately suspended <...> People from Ukraine have now become part of local regulatory systems. They should be treated exactly the same as other asylum seekers; there is no reason to make a distinction here," said Plakolm.

The publication notes that in Austria, all refugees from Ukraine receive social benefits. However, for example, in Hungary and Slovakia, only those who come from regions where active hostilities are taking place receive assistance.

Vladimir Zharikhin, a political scientist and deputy head of the Institute of CIS Countries, said on April 8 that the issue of the fate of Ukrainian refugees after the end of the conflict was not an easy one. In his opinion, they will not retain the status that the refugees had until recently, because there is no such active solidarity with Ukraine in Europe as before.