Vienna has deported a convicted Afghan criminal to Kabul, the first such deportation from Austria since the Taliban returned to power in the war-ravaged country in 2021. Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker confirmed the deportation on Tuesday morning, writing on X: “Anyone who doesn’t follow our rules will have to leave.” He added: “With this, Austria is sending a clear message: Zero tolerance toward all those who have forfeited their right of residence through criminal offenses.” Deportations to Afghanistan have been controversial. Pro-asylum groups consider it an unsafe country where deportees could face the threat of persecution by the Taliban, which has not been officially recognized as the ruling government by any EU country. According to the Austrian public broadcaster ORF, the deportee was convicted of a sex offense and severe assault, and spent four years in an Austrian prison. A spokesperson for Vienna’s Interior Ministry told POLITICO: “Austria deports convicted criminals to their home countries. If that’s not currently possible in a specific case, we work hard and consistently to make sure it will be possible in the future.” Stocker said the Interior Ministry plans further deportations. His government also resumed deportations to Syria and Somalia earlier this year. The first Afghan deportation came two days after Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner of the conservative Austrian’s People’s Party (ÖVP) discussed the issue with Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell. Last Thursday, Karner, Forssell and 18 other EU migration ministers sent a joint letter to EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner, urging the bloc to allow the “voluntary or forced return” of Afghan nationals. European Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert told journalists Monday that the EU was in “close contact with member states” on the issue. “Earlier this year we have initiated exploratory contacts at technical level with the de facto authorities in Afghanistan. We are ready to continue supporting member states in their efforts,” he said. Austria’s neighbor Germany resumed deportations of Afghans to Kabul in August 2024.

Austria’s permanent representative to the EU has resigned from his post in Brussels after what the government in Vienna described as “allegations.” Thomas Oberreiter handed in his resignation to Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger on Monday “for personal reasons,” a spokesperson for the Austrian government told POLITICO. “After Federal Minister Meinl-Reisinger learned of the allegations on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry immediately reviewed the case,” the spokesperson said. “The ambassador requested his dismissal on Monday for personal reasons. This request was accepted by Federal Minister Meinl-Reisinger.” The spokesperson said the acceptance of dismissal “should not be considered as confirmation of the allegations.” His exit comes as a report by Der Standard in Austria named Oberreiter in connection with a sexually explicit blog. The report said Oberreiter denied that allegation and that he resigned to save Austria from further embarrassment. POLITICO has not verified the report. “For reasons of data and privacy protection of the person concerned and their relatives, we cannot provide further details,” the government spokesperson said. POLITICO has contacted a representative for Oberreiter for comment. Oberreiter has worked in the Austrian foreign service for more than 30 years and served in several key positions, including as Cabinet chief under Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg from the conservative Austrian People’s Party.

Daniel Harper is a British Iranian multimedia journalist, residing and working in the EU, specializing in migration, women’s rights and human rights. His work has appeared in Euronews, Balkan Insight, GAY Times, Insider, among other publications. After a three-day mourning period, the flags above Austria’s parliament were raised from half-mast, where they’d been lowered following last month’s fatal school shooting in the country’s second city of Graz. The shooting at the high school was the deadliest in the country’s history, leaving 10 dead and several injured. Notably, the assailant had used a shotgun and handgun he’d obtained legally, despite failing a psychological screening for his required military service. According to a small arms survey, Austria is the 14th most armed country in the world, with 30 firearms per 100 inhabitants. Yet, it has often shirked from gun reform — even after the terrorist attack of November 2020, which saw assault rifles fired in central Vienna. So, for the issue to raise to the top of the agenda now, speaks volumes as to just how far this fatal incident has shoved the political dial on the country’s long-standing ambivalence to gun reform. “Nothing we do, including what we have decided today, will bring back the 10 people we lost last Tuesday. But I can promise you one thing: We will learn from this tragedy,” Chancellor Christian Stocker said, echoing that very sentiment a press conference held after the shooting. Question is, will Austria’s government finally be spurred into action? Austria’s hunting culture means gun ownership is deeply engrained in its society. Currently, 130,000 people — roughly 1.4 percent of the population — hold mandatory hunting licenses. And anyone who’s been to Austria can attest to the numerous animal heads and trophy antlers hanging on the walls of pubs and chalets. Moreover, two large weapons manufacturers, Steyr and Glock, are both headquartered in the country. And their lobbying of pro-gun political parties within the conservative faction has helped prevent previous gun reform attempts. “There is a big hunters lobby,” said Professor Roger von Laufenberg, managing director of the Vienna Center for Societal Security explained. “Especially [for] the major political parties. The Conservative Party, for example, has traditionally had a large share of voters [who are] hunters, which is why this was not really perceived as an issue for so long.” The last time gun laws were reformed in any major way in Austria was in 1997, following an EU directive imposing tighter restrictions on gun ownership — a change that, according to a report by the British Journal of Psychology, led to a drop in the rate of firearm suicides and homicides. Decades later, one of the main reforms now being discussed is raising the minimum age to buy firearms from 21 to 25. Other restrictions the chancellor suggested include raising the minimum age to own specific firearms like handguns, having gun permits expire every eight years, strengthening psychological testing and making it mandatory, sharing information across governmental agencies, as well as introducing a four-week waiting period for the delivery of a first weapon. These are all in addition to a suggested expansion of psychological support in schools across the country over the next three years. A woman leaves a candle at a makeshift memorial site near the school where several people died in a school shooting, on June 10, 2025 in Graz, southeastern Austria. | Georg Hochmuth/AFP via Getty Images This is a dramatic shift in how gun reform has been addressed by the government in previous years. Under current laws, anyone over the age of 18 can purchase certain shotguns and rifles without a permit, while other weapons, like hand pistols, require a three-day waiting period and a psychological analysis. The issue of psychological testing is especially a point of focus, as the assailant in the school shooting had passed the test to own a handgun. The process that’s drawing particular criticism is that a person is only tested once in their lifetime and never reassessed. Furthermore, despite the assailant failing his psychological exam for compulsory military service, this information was not shared with other agencies, including the police. Interestingly, just a couple weeks before the Graz shooting, Austria’s Green Party had put forward a proposal aimed at reforming gun laws. But the motion for a resolution was postponed with the votes of Austria’s coalition government. The proposed motion set out much of the same guidelines the chancellor shared with the press — tighter background checks, greater monitoring of private gun sales and a permanent gun ban for those who have restraining orders against them. The difference was that these reforms were specifically aimed at combating violence against women and girls — another problem Austria’s been dealing with for a long time. According to Green member Meri Disoksi, who proposed the reform, “almost one in two perpetrators of violence against women suffers from a mental illness” — hence the greater need for stricter psychological checks. Similarly, an Institute of Conflict Research analysis on femicides in Austria between 2010 to 2020 found that of the women assaulted with a firearm, 62.6 percent died. Even the use of illegal firearms involved with femicides has increased from 2016 to 2020, according to the study. Markus Leinfellner of the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) — a party that often blocks gun reform legislation — had criticized the proposal, speaking out against the suggestion of psychological assessments for gun owners every five years, saying it would place a financial burden on gun owners and lead to an increased workload for psychologists. It’s evident just how much the Graz shooting has changed the conversation and forced the issue of gun reform back into play, as even FPO leader Herbert Kickl didn’t come out against the chancellor’s recent proposals. He simply told lawmakers: “I don’t think now is the time to pledge or announce that this or that measure will solve a problem.” Of course, it remains to be seen whether the proposed gun reforms will eventually pass. But with Stocker now promising the country will learn from this tragedy, it seems Austria has been forced to confront the consequences of being a society so intertwined with gun culture after decades of political ambivalence. The shooting in Graz has finally pierced the illusion that legal gun ownership guarantees safety, and the country’s political parties can’t sit on the fence any longer.