VIENNA (AP) 鈥 Austria's leader praised Britain Tuesday as a 鈥減ioneer鈥 in outsourcing asylum proceedings to places outside Europe, citing a U.K. bill to send migrants to Rwanda as he hosted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Vienna.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservative party has long taken a hard line on migration and faces a strong challenge from the far-right Freedom Party in an election expected this fall.
Nehammer said Austria and the United Kingdom, which left the European Union in 2020, are 鈥渟trategic partners when it comes to being able to conduct asylum proceedings in safe third countries."
鈥淭he United Kingdom is a pioneer for this path, which will also be important for the European Union,鈥 he said at a joint news conference with Sunak. 鈥淲ith the Rwanda model, it is a pioneer for us being able to put asylum proceedings in safe third countries on the European Union's agenda too.鈥
Austria is that called last week for more agreements with countries where migrants depart from or travel through to get to Europe. That call came after EU nations endorsed sweeping .
In late April, the British Parliament passed legislation to , clearing the way for flights this summer under aimed at deterring risky English Channel crossings by people desperate to reach the U.K.
Human rights activists and migrants鈥 groups have vowed to continue fighting the policy, which they say is unethical and inhumane.
Sunak said that 鈥渨e have to pursue new ideas, solutions, and deterrents 鈥 removals to safe third countries 鈥 like the U.K.鈥檚 pioneering Rwanda scheme.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 increasingly clear that many other countries now agree that that is the approach that is required: bold, novel, looking at safe country partnerships,鈥 Sunak said.
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