Image copyright Reuters Image caption Sebastian Kurz has previously vowed to shut down migrant routes to Europe

Austria's coalition government has unveiled plans to cut benefit payments for immigrants, including refugees, in a move aimed at deterring new arrivals.

The main benefit payment will be capped at €563 ($655; £492) a month, rising to match the amount Austrians receive - €863 - if they pass a German test.

Immigrants will also be barred from claiming such benefits for five years.

Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, in government with the far right, has vowed a hard line on immigration.

Mr Kurz campaigned in last year's parliamentary election with pledges to cap benefits for refugees and to shut down migrant routes to Europe.

"The fundamental rule we will introduce is that German will become the key to accessing the full minimum benefit," Mr Kurz told a news conference on Monday.

"That means that whoever has insufficient language skills will not be able to claim the full minimum benefit," he added.

However Monday's announcement brings Austria into conflict with the rest of the European Union, because EU rules on freedom of establishment require all member states' citizens to be treated equally.

Austria's coalition government between the conservative People's Party and the far-right Freedom Party was approved in December after elections on 15 October failed to yield a conclusive result.

The parties' election campaigns were dominated by Europe's migration crisis, something the anti-immigration Freedom Party has long campaigned on.

In 2015, at the height of Europe's migrant crisis, more than 90,000 people applied for asylum in Austria, more than 1% of the country's population.

Initially the refugees were welcomed, but the mood in the country quickly changed.</s>Austria's right wing coalition government on Monday doubled down on plans to cut benefits for foreigners including refugees, risking fresh legal challenges and opposition from the rest of the European Union.

VIENNA: Austria's right wing coalition government on Monday doubled down on plans to cut benefits for foreigners including refugees, risking fresh legal challenges and opposition from the rest of the European Union.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's conservatives, in government with the far right, won last year's parliamentary election with a hard line on immigration, pledging not to allow a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis in which Austria took in one of the biggest shares of asylum seekers in Europe. They see benefit cuts for new arrivals as a deterrent.

In March the Constitutional Court struck down a local model for the government's planned benefit reform, which required anyone claiming the main minimum benefit to have lived in Austria for five of the last six years. That system also reduced refugees' benefits for an initial five years.

Following that ruling, the cabinet unveiled its modified plan on Monday, which would cap single refugees' main benefit payment at 563 euros (US$656) a month, rising to the 863 euros available to Austrians if the refugees pass a German test.

"The fundamental rule we will introduce is that German will become the key to accessing the full minimum benefit," Kurz told a news conference. "That means that whoever has insufficient language skills will not be able to claim the full minimum benefit."

That raises the question of whether the new plan will also be blocked by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that refugees must be treated better than other foreigners since by definition they cannot return to their home countries.

But while the rules that were struck down did not distinguish between citizens of other European Union countries and Austrians, the new plan bars all foreigners from claiming the main benefit for five years.

That sets Austria on a collision course with Brussels and other EU member states, where EU rules on freedom of establishment are widely believed to require that all member states' citizens be treated equally.

"Freedom of establishment is the freedom to work in all of Europe. Freedom of establishment is not the freedom to seek out the best social benefits system and in that sense this waiting period is in my opinion a step in the right direction," Kurz said.

Kurz said it was "frightening" that most people on the minimum welfare payment are in Vienna and roughly half of those are foreign citizens. But when asked if the new plans were legal, he said that would be decided elsewhere.

"We are not the Constitutional Court," he said.</s>The government plans to cap refugees’ main benefit payment at 563 euros a month, rising to the 863 euros available to Austrian citizens if they pass a language test.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said: "The fundamental rule we will introduce is that German will become the key to accessing the full minimum benefit. That means that whoever has insufficient language skills will not be able to claim the full minimum benefit."

Immigrants will also be barred from claiming such benefits for five years, a move that goes against EU rules that all member states' citizens be treated equally.

Kurz's People’s Party won last year's parliamentary election with a hard line on immigration, pledging not to allow a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis.</s>Austria’s right-wing coalition has announced its modified plans to cut benefit payments for foreigners, including asylum-seekers, who don’t speak German for five years.

“The fundamental rule we will introduce is that German will become the key to accessing the full minimum benefit. That means that whoever has insufficient language skills will not be able to claim the full minimum benefit,” Chancellor Kurz told a press conference.

According to the plan, the pay would be capped at 563 euros ($656) per month, and would increase to 863 euros ($1000) a month if an individual passes a German-language test.

“Freedom of establishment is the freedom to work in all of Europe. Freedom of establishment is not the freedom to seek out the best social benefits system and in that sense this waiting period is in my opinion a step in the right direction,” Kurz said, referring to the government’s previous benefit reform, stipulating that anyone claiming the main minimum benefit must have lived in Austria for five of the last six years, which was blocked by the Constitutional Court in March.

Earlier this week, in an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Kurz suggested that the EU’s border patrol guards be deployed to Africa to stem illegal migration flows to Europe. The Chancellor said that he was concerned that EU refugee quotas to distribute migrants around the member-states were unrealistic.

READ MORE: Merkel, Kurz Clash Over Refugees During First Meeting in Berlin

In April, Kurz’s government proposed harsher measures against asylum-seekers, including seizing their phones to check their identity, crime record and determine the country of origin. The bill also included quicker deportations for those who commit crimes, even children; perpetrators are supposed to be sent to detention centers for deportation after they serve sentences.

During his election campaign in October 2017, Kurz put the fight against illegal migration high on the agenda; as a result his Austrian People’s Party (OVP) won the support of 31.5 percent of voters in snap parliamentary elections. Kurz was sworn-in as chancellor when OVP reached a consensus with Heinz-Christian Strache’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPO) on the formation of a coalition government.</s>The Austrian government has announced plans to cut benefit payments for migrants and asylum-seekers who do not speak German for their first five years in the country.

Led by right-wing Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the coalition proposes to give more than 50 percent higher benefits to individuals who can pass a German-language test.

The plan outlines payments at 563 euros ($656) per month for non-German speakers and 863 euros ($1000) for those who pass the test.

"The fundamental rule we will introduce is that German will become the key to accessing the full minimum benefit. That means that whoever has insufficient language skills will not be able to claim the full minimum benefit," Kurz told a news conference.

In March, the Constitutional Court blocked a reform bill pushing for main minimum benefit to be provided only to those who had resided in Austria for five of the past six years.

"Freedom of establishment is the freedom to work in all of Europe. Freedom of establishment is not the freedom to seek out the best social benefits system and in that sense this waiting period is in my opinion a step in the right direction," Kurz said.

In an interview with German daily Welt am Sonntag published Sunday, Kurz said European Union (EU) border patrol guards should be deployed to Africa to block migrants from landing on European shores. Kurz also said refugee quotas distributing migrants throughout the EU were unrealistic.

In April, the Austrian cabinet approved measures to force asylum seekers to hand over their mobile phones and pay up to 840 euros ($1,040) in cash to the authorities during their application process, to verify their origins and routes they had taken. The measures also meant refugees will only be able to apply for Austrian citizenship after 10 years, as opposed to six previously, and sped up deportation process for those who committed crimes, even children.

Austria received more than 150,000 asylum applications -- almost 2 percent of its total population of 8.7 million -- following the migration crisis of 2015.

In the parliamentary election of October 2017, Kurtz and his center-right Austrian People's Party (OeVP) put the crackdown on immigration as one of their main platform keystones.</s>Austria’s law banning face veils – such as burkhas or niqabs - comes into effect on Sunday.

The law comes at a time when major political parties are tapping into a mood of Islamophobia, ahead of a general election next month, which could see a far right party join the coalition government.

There are around 700,000 Muslims in Austria, which has a population of about eight million. Bethany Bell reports from Austria.
Austria's coalition government unveils plans to cut benefit payments for immigrants, including refugees, in a move aimed at deterring new arrivals.