CENTRAL EUROPE: Civil society legal complaint about new quota system for family reunification in Austria ― Far right election successes increase fears for people with migrant backgrounds in Germany― Fall in number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland ― Swis…

• A group of NGOs and legal academics have filed a complaint with the European Commission against Austria over its laws restricting the rights of refugees to family reunification.
• People with migrant backgrounds and migration-focused NGOs in Germany have expressed concerns following the far-right Alternative for Germany party’s recent electoral successes in eastern states.
• There has been a notable decrease in the number of Ukrainian refugees living in Poland in 2026.
• The Swiss federal government has rejected a proposal from a major populist party for systematic border controls and restrictions in the area of asylum.

A group of NGOs and legal academics have filed a complaint with the European Commission (EC) against Austria over its laws restricting the rights of refugees to family reunification. The complaint relates to a new Austrian federal law that requires the government to set a quota restricting the number of people who will be permitted to enter and live in Austria each year as family members of refugees. The complainants, who include ECRE member organisations Asylkoordination Österreich, Diakonie in Österreich and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) Europe, have urged the EC to initiate infringement proceedings against Austria over the quota system which will, they argue, “needlessly keep more refugee families separated, including family members living in dangerous situations abroad”. In April, the group submitted a – still pending – complaint about Austria’s unilateral suspension of family reunification for refugees. Commenting on the most recent complaint, David Öberg from IRAP said: “In our previous complaint (…), we warned that failure to act against Austria’s unilateral suspension of its obligations to refugees and their families would embolden EU member states to commit further violations of EU law. Now, just a few months later, Austria has challenged the EU legal order yet again by flouting the clear ban on quota systems and enforced waiting times for refugee family reunification”. “Once again, we call on the Commission to intervene to uphold the rights of refugees and the rule of law on which the EU project depends,” he added. Separately, Asylkoordination Österreich Spokesperson Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz said: “This is not just about the rights of people entitled to protection, but about a fundamental question of the rule of law: Von der Leyen herself must therefore ensure that the Commission fulfills its duty as guardian of the treaties”.

People with migrant backgrounds and migration-focused NGOs in Germany have expressed concerns following the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s recent electoral successes in eastern states. On 6 September, AfD came first in the election in Saxony-Anhalt. This was followed by victory in the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on 20 September. Speaking to the Reuters news agency after the Saxony-Anhalt election, the head of the State Network of Migrant Organisations in Saxony-Anhalt (LAMSA), Undra Dressler, said: “There ​are many people in our ⁠communities who say: ‘We’ve already packed our bags and have concrete plans, and we’ll be leaving soon,’ or, in some cases, have already left”. Meanwhile, the head of the democracy NGO Miteinander in Saxony-Anhalt, Pascal Begrich, said: “There are companies asking themselves whether they really want to locate here and whether they can ensure their workers will be safe”. Speaking to Reuters shortly before the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a woman called Najeeb who relocated to Germany with her husband after fleeing Syria during the civil war described a recent incident which exemplified the growing “hostility towards foreigners” experienced by people with migrant backgrounds. According to Najeeb, a man in a grocery store shouted at her “This country is for Germans” while she was bringing her two children home from school.

There has been a notable decrease in the number of Ukrainian refugees living in Poland in 2026. According to data published by the Polish government on 8 September, the number of people registered under the immigration status offered to Ukrainian refugees in the country fell from 974,500 in April to 868,000 in September (minus 106,500 (11%)). Two possible explanations for the decrease have been suggested by different sources: “rising hostility toward the refugees” (Polish media) and “bureaucratic roadblocks” (Ukrainians in Poland).  The latter may be explained by the introduction in March of a new rule which requires Ukrainian refugees to “explicitly state to border guards their intention to seek temporary protection in Poland” when they arrive at the Ukraine-Poland border. According to Bohdan Kontsur from the Ukrainian House NGO in Warsaw, many people only learn this “when they go to the [immigration] office and there they’re getting told that their entry into Poland was listed as a tourist entry”. In addition, a separate legal change that came into force in September has meant that Ukrainians whose temporary protection status had been granted “without presentation of a valid travel document” and who had failed to confirm their identities with a valid travel document by 31 August “lost the right to legal residence attached to their temporary protection status” on 1 September. According to Kontsur, this rule, which affects “tens of thousands of Ukrainians”, has been loosened to give those affected a six-month grace period to “sort their situation out”.

The Swiss federal government has rejected a proposal from a major populist party for systematic border controls and restrictions in the area of asylum. In a press release issued on 18 September, the Federal Council stated that the Swiss People’s Party’s ‘Stop Asylum Abuses! (Border Protection Initiative)’ would “threaten Switzerland’s prosperity and internal security, and call into question our humanitarian tradition” and that its implementation would be “difficult and very costly”. ECRE member organisation the Swiss Refugee Council (OSAR/SFH) welcomed the decision to reject what it described as an “extreme” initiative that “undermines the protection of refugees, undermines international law and would isolate Switzerland”. Commenting on it, OSAR/SFH Director Miriam Behrens said: “The Swiss People’s Party (SVP) initiative stigmatises refugees and deprives them of the protection they need”. “It is xenophobic, inhumane, and threatens the cohesion of our society,” she added.

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