Vienna, March 19 (QNA) – EU countries should restrict social benefits for migrants from other member states to prevent the abuse of welfare systems, Austrian Foreign and Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz said Sunday.
The proposal from Kurz came on the heels of several recently-drafted policies to make Austria less attractive to migrants, including a plan to reduce child benefits for foreign EU workers whose children live in their home countries.Kurz told Austrian national public broadcaster ORF that EU citizens should only be able to claim welfare in another EU country after having lived there for five years.
Under Kurz’s proposal, unemployment benefits would be excluded.”The freedom to work anywhere should not be confused with the freedom to choose the best welfare system” within the European Union, Kurz said. “If the EU does not implement such restrictions, citizens are at risk of feeling overwhelmed by migrants, just as they were with refugees,” he warned. “I want to rescue the freedom of movement for persons, not endanger it,” he said. (QNA)
