New chancellor's stance on asylum policy causes stir in Austrian gov't

Comments made over Austria's interpretation of its asylum policy by new Chancellor Christian Kern have led to a stir within his coalition government on Wednesday.

Kern, only two weeks into his job, had made a departure from the earlier stance of the Austrian government in comments to the media on Tuesday, where he indicated that the nature of the upper limit of 37,500 asylum applications for the year would be redefined.

Instead of the previously-assumed 22,000 total applications made so far this year that would count toward this limit, the new stance appears to only take into account those from persons actually deemed eligible for the asylum procedure, in which case current applications amount to only 11,000, and create a significantly larger window for further applications.

The Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported both Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Sobotka and Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil as being amongst more prominent officials who have openly voiced discontent with the stance of Kern.

Sobotka said Kern had spoken of 37,500 persons actually eligible for asylum, though this number would assume a similar number of total applications to those made in 2015, the chaotic peak year of the asylum influx.

He said that situation must however not be repeated, and hoped that the chancellor's comments were simply misinterpreted, and did not represent a "leftward shift" of the government. In addition he said the existing asylum stance of the government is non-negotiable.

Meanwhile, Doskozil was more open to Kern's interpretation. He called for full transparency and a fixed stance on the asylum figures.

"We have to deal with the numbers more carefully, otherwise we will make ourselves look ridiculous to the public," he said.

In response, Kern's chancellery stated that the numbers that were noted by the chancellor were based on figures provided by the interior ministry in cabinet Tuesday and that 11,000 applications have been approved as eligible for asylum procedure.

Minister of the Chancellery Thomas Drozda further stated in a press release that he is expecting objectivity and a continued transparent release of up-to-date figures from the "relevant ministry," including for both eligible asylum applications, and those deemed not to be. Endi