MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Thursday, Austrian Foreign and Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz presented integration proposals on migrants in Austria which include "one euro jobs" for refugees with low qualifications. Under the "one euro jobs"scheme migrants can work from 15 to 30 hours a week for 1 euro per hour. Refugees will receive reduced financial support from the government in case they reject this kind of work.
"I am very positive, because we do have enough jobs here in Austria to do. The only problem is that we do not have enough paid jobs to do. And by creating ‘one euro jobs’ we give migrants something to do and a chance to contribute something useful to our society," Robert Lugar said.
The foreign minister also proposed sanctions for refugees who do not attend German language and values courses, a ban on full-body-covering outer garments and a stipulation that new migrants must live in Austria for five years before being eligible to receive the full amount in state support.
"It’s a necessary job creation scheme for migrants," Lugar added.
In 2015, Austria saw a threefold increase in the number of refugees coming to the country, with some 90,000 applications lodged for asylum.
Europe is struggling to find a solution to a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Frontex detected over 1.83 million illegal border crossings in 2015, in contrast to some 283,000 in 2014.
