Budget: This is how much the Ministry of the Interior plans to save in 2025/2026

At the same time, investments are to be made in the area of security, particularly in visible police presence and counter-terrorism. This was announced by Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) and State Security Secretary Jörg Leichtfried (SPÖ) on Thursday.

According to Karner, there is significant potential for savings in the asylum and migration sector. "We will achieve savings of almost 100 million euros in this area compared to 2024," said Karner. He pointed out, among other things, that two years ago, almost 2,000 asylum seekers were accommodated in the federal care center East in Traiskirchen. Currently, there are 360. The halt of family reunification and a significant decline in asylum seekers from Syria following the fall of the Assad regime - asylum applications have decreased by 80 to 90 percent - are noticeable, explained Karner.

At the end of 2022/beginning of 2023, around 92,000 people were in basic care, according to the Ministry of the Interior, currently, there are around 62,400, more than half of whom are women and children from Ukraine. The number of open basic care facilities for asylum seekers has been reduced from more than 30 to eight. Conclusion: the estimated budget plan in the area of foreign affairs will decrease from 788 million euros for 2024 to 693 million euros in 2025. With a further decline in asylum applications, the Ministry hopes to manage with 621 million euros in 2026.

Budget: Karner wants to save in administration

Interior Minister Karner wants to save in administration, where only every third position is to be refilled. In contrast, departures in the executive due to retirements will be compensated, and additional hires are planned in urban areas. Existing benefits for police trainees, such as a recruitment bonus, the climate ticket, or the possibility of having a driver's license financed, will be discontinued from September.

New working time model for police

"In the core area of security, we have 150 million more available this year," announced Karner. This amount will benefit counter-terrorism and visible police presence, although overtime will be reduced "to a reasonable level," as Karner explained.

In the previous year, all employees of the Ministry of the Interior worked 7.25 million overtime hours, and in the first quarter of 2025, it was 1.63 million. This development is to be addressed with a new working time model for police officers, which aims to reduce overtime and increase the effectiveness of the executive. "We have the highest number of police officers that Austria has ever had. In 2023, 1,750 were newly recruited, and in 2024, 2,500," emphasized Karner. With these record numbers, the goal can only be to reduce the number of costly overtime hours.

To implement this quickly, police leadership has been tasked with developing a new working time model and adapting it to existing structures. This is intended to create better work time planning and a better work-life balance for police officers. With the new working time model, Karner wants to "start the trial operation" in the coming year, as he announced.

Ministry of the Interior aims to save 200 million euros in 2025/2026

"A well-functioning constitutional protection is more than necessary. We will continue to advance the development of constitutional protection, we will continue to strengthen constitutional protection. This means a need for more personnel and financial resources. Both will be covered by the budget," clarified State Secretary Leichtfried. Personnel and material resources would be "increased" for the planned monitoring of threats, Leichtfried specified.

The Ministry of the Interior presented a draft for the surveillance of messenger services for the purpose of counter-terrorism a few weeks ago. This is to be discussed and decided in parliament before the summer break. The law for threat monitoring could come into effect at the earliest by the end of 2026, said Leichtfried: "It is about preventing people in Austria from being stabbed or killed by explosions."

According to Leichtfried, international cooperation in the field of state protection is budgetarily secured. Leichtfried wants more funds for preventive work to prevent terrorist threat scenarios, especially in online radicalization: "We will try to implement the project of comprehensive constitutional protection into Austrian reality."

(APA/Red)

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