Industry “feels and notices”
Foreign skilled workers avoid “Fortress Austria”
May 20, 2023, 2:16 p.m
Austria also needs skilled workers from abroad. But they prefer to look elsewhere for a job, as the Austrian industry explains. Because the country enjoys a “migration-critical image”, mainly thanks to the right-wing FPÖ.
According to the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV), Austria suffers from its anti-immigration image in the competition for foreign skilled workers. Word is getting around about the country’s appearance, which is also characterized by the slogan “Fortress Austria”, which has been overused by the right-wing FPÖ, says IV boss Georg Knill to the Association of Foreign Press. “We feel that, we notice that.” Politicians have failed to make a clear distinction between illegal migration, which everyone rejects, and the often desired influx of skilled workers. “There is no differentiation in the public discussion,” Knill continued.
Just recently had a representative Opinion poll revealed that, among other things, anti-Semitic myths are widespread in Austria. Of 2,000 respondents, 36 percent said Jews dominate international business. An equal proportion felt that Jews would try to take advantage of their persecution in the Holocaust.
“Fatal signal effect”
According to IV boss Knill, Austria is threatened by further economic disadvantages due to the country’s foreseeable renewed no to the desired trade pact between the EU and the South American confederation MERCOSUR. “That has a fatal signal effect both internally and externally.” The trade pact would be important not least because of the possibility of having access to the rare earths that have so far been supplied primarily by China. But the resistance of the agricultural sector and climate protection is probably too strong for a rethink, said Knill, referring to the coalition of the conservative ÖVP and the Greens.
Austria had already vetoed the trade pact in 2019. The EU has been negotiating with Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil, which are part of MERCOSUR, since 1999. The pact would create one of the largest free trade zones in the world with more than 700 million people. Environmentalists and human rights activists warn against exploitation and environmental destruction as a result of the agreement. In Germany, Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) believes that the interests of German farmers are sufficiently taken into account in the free trade agreement. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) also sees a chance of concluding the agreement.