Conflicting conceptualisations of Europeanisation – Austria Country Report

This working paper provides preliminary insights into public debates over Europeanisation and migration in Austria between 2011 and 2019. Based on a qualitative political claims analysis of 15 political speeches, 21 newspaper articles and nine stakeholder interviews, it provides an overview on how various actors problematized the EU, its Member States, and their policymaking and political targets in the realm of migration and asylum. Early research results show a widely shared discontent over the EU’s asylum system. But although there is disagreement over responsible actors and failed policy rationales, we also find broad consensus on the idea that reforms must happen at the European level (with rightwing populist politicians being a major exception). Thereby, the EU as a polity and as a set of rules, beliefs and cultures is filled with different meanings.