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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 000763 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM AU PREF KCRM ASEC
 
SUBJECT: Rising Crime in Austria Fuels "Law & Order" Policies 
 
Ref: Vienna 721 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Crime, especially burglaries and thefts, has risen 
conspicuously in Austria in recent years.  The police, the press and 
politicians blame foreigners, particularly asylum seekers and 
foreign gangs, for this increase.   While the conservative parties 
have had the most vehement response, the coalition government is 
also supporting "law & order" policies including tighter immigration 
laws.  The most notable of these is the proposed asylum law which 
would significantly increase the number of immigrants being detained 
and deported.  Concern about crime is also undermining support for 
development of a common EU immigration/asylum policy and increasing 
calls, as yet on a limited basis, for re-establishment of border 
controls.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Poll Reveals Public Angst 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) A recent poll by the respectable IMAS institute (sample of 
1,070) found that 77 percent of Austrians believe crime has 
increased over the past decade.  Almost half say they have 
personally been a crime victim at least once. In what may be a 
politically explosive finding, 63 percent of respondents believe the 
rising crime rate is a direct result of immigration (and/or 
Austria's asylum policies).  A disproportionately high number of 
conservative FPO voters (77 percent) feel Austria is importing crime 
with its immigration policies, while only 35 percent of Green voters 
hold this view.  Two high-profile killings in Vienna in past months 
- the murder of a Sikh guru in a Vienna temple, and the public 
killing of a Chechen exile, have further exacerbated the linkage 
between crime and immigrants. 
 
Crime Statistics Back Fears 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Actual crime statistics support the public's perception about 
the rise in thefts, but not about crime in general, and about the 
connection between immigration and crime.  According to Eurostat, 
while total crime in Austria increased 10 percent between 1998 and 
2007, domestic burglaries increased 70 percent and robberies 
increased 125 percent.  According to 2008 Austrian police 
statistics, roughly one third of all crime suspects were foreigners. 
 One police official told journalists that burglaries in Vienna are 
nearly exclusively committed by foreigners and that about 40% of 
suspects are members of Georgian gangs with the remaining 60% coming 
predominantly from the former Yugoslavia and Romania.  Officials 
also stress, however, that these foreign suspects are predominantly 
"crime tourists" rather than immigrants living in Austria.  However, 
because suspects are caught in only 5% of burglaries, the 
above-mentioned statistics may not give the full picture. 
 
¶4. (U) Critics argue the rising crime figures are the result of a 
misguided streamlining of Austria's police forces from 2000-2008. 
During this period the center-right coalition government abolished 
4,000 police jobs.  In an effort to partially redress this cutback, 
the current SPO-OVP coalition pledged in its government agenda to 
put 1,000 more police back onto the streets over the next four 
years.  But experts note this is clearly not enough to compensate 
for the earlier cutback and to tackle the burgeoning crime rate. 
 
Political Reaction: Fewer Immigrants & Tighter Borders 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶5. (U) In an effort to demonstrate political leadership on 
law-and-order issues, OVP Interior Minister Maria Fekter in mid-June 
submitted a more restrictive asylum policy package to parliament. 
Under the new legislation, putting asylum applicants in detention 
pending deportation would become much easier.  It stipulates that 
asylum applicants who should have filed their application in another 
Schengen country  ("Dublin cases") should be put in detention 
pending deportation, and that asylum seekers who are charged with a 
crime can be deported immediately (instead of waiting until they are 
convicted).  Representatives of international organizations, from 
the Council of Europe to UNHCR, have criticized the proposal, 
arguing that it would trigger "mass detentions pending deportation" 
lasting for up to 6 months while waiting for the responsible EU 
country to take over the case.  Austrian constitutional law experts 
have pointed out that the deportation of asylum seekers suspected, 
rather than convicted, of a crime, would violate international law 
as well as the Austrian constitutional principle of "in  dubio pro 
reo" ("in doubt, in favor of  the accused").  Nevertheless, 
legislators are expected to approve the new policy in July, which 
will take effect January 1, 2010. 
 
¶6. (U) The growing unease over crime has been a boon to the populist 
far-right.  In an effort to exploit popular anger over rising crime, 
the self-styled law-and-order parties FPO and its spin-off BZO have 
called for the reintroduction of border checks at Austria's eastern 
and south-eastern borders.  FPO leader Heinz Christian Strache has 
also suggested detention centers for asylum seekers at the Schengen 
borders in order to process asylum applications there.  Austria's 
mainstream parties dismissed that call as "silly" and "unrealistic." 
 
VIENNA 00000763  002 OF 002 
 
 
 However, contrary to their earlier plans, both the moderate SPO and 
OVP ended up agreeing to extend the Austrian army's year-long border 
policing mandate for yet for another 12 months.  This border 
policing role of Austrian recruits along the borders with Slovakia 
and Hungary has become anachronistic - if not offensive -as Hungary 
and Slovakia joined the EU in 2004. 
 
¶7. (U) These moves, coming in addition to the xenophobic rhetoric 
used by the FPO during the recent European Parliament elections, are 
sparking a counter-reaction among liberals, particularly the Greens, 
who demonstrated this week for "civil courage" and against 
anti-Semitism and anti-Islamism. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: The response to rising crime -- and the fear of 
rising crime -- is not only a matter of domestic concern.  It has 
already affected Austria's relations with its eastern neighbors, as 
noted.  In addition, the decision to continue the military border 
security operation may well use up the funds that would otherwise go 
to Austria's overseas peacekeeping deployments.  At the EU level, 
the crime issue has led Interior Minister Fekter to reject recent 
European Commission and Parliament proposals for a common European 
asylum policy (largely out of concern that it would change the 
existing Dublin rules in a way that would limit Austria's ability to 
deport migrants to other EU countries).  While the government 
parties reject re-introducing border controls, pressure in that 
direction could well grow absent a demonstrable reduction in crime. 
End Comment. 
 
ORDWAY