Austria says it is reviewing the status of Syrian refugees

Austria is reviewing the status of Syrian refugees who arrived less than five years ago, Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Thursday (19 December) after media reports that some had been notified by letter that they "no longer have to fear political persecution".

Nehammer, a conservative who is trying to form a new coalition government while under fire from the far right, pounced on the fall of Bashar al-Assad on 8 December, saying the same day that the security situation in Syria should be reviewed so as to allow deportations there.

Since then he and his caretaker government have clarified that their initial focus will be on voluntary deportations, with those volunteering to return home being offered 1,000 euros. Austria is also among more than a dozen European countries to suspend the processing of Syrians' asylum claims.

"Austria ... is now reviewing the eligibility for protection of Syrians who have been in the country for less than 5 years," Nehammer said on X.

Austrian law allows the authorities to revoke a refugee's status in some cases within five years of it being granted. Syrians are the biggest group of asylum seekers in Austria.

Nehammer's People's Party (ÖVP) has made a hard line on immigration one of its hallmarks, to the point that the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has accused it of stealing its ideas.

The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPÖ won a parliamentary election on 29 September but, having secured around 29% of the vote, it would have needed a coalition partner to command a majority in parliament and form a government.

Since none was immediately forthcoming, Austria's president tasked Nehammer with forming a government. Nehammer is in talks with the Social Democrats and the liberal Neos.

News magazine Profil reported earlier on Thursday that some Syrian refugees had received letters from Austrian authorities informing them that proceedings to potentially strip them of their refugee status were being initiated because "the situation in the country of origin has changed".

The United Nations' refugee agency said it was "clearly premature" to initiate such proceedings.

"They should only be initiated if the situation in the country of origin has fundamentally changed and a safe, permanent return would in fact be possible for those affected," the UNHCR's Austria chief Christoph Pinter said in a statement.

"That is definitely not the case at the moment."