MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said Wednesday he would seek hefty fines for ethnic Turks holding Austrian citizenship who illegally obtain a second passport.
"Those who illegally acquire Turkish citizenship lose the Austrian one. That’s the law. But there is no punishment for it. We want to change that," the minister said ahead of a cabinet meeting.
Austria does not allow dual citizenship except when a person obtains two of them at the time they are born. Acquiring a foreign citizenship leads to automatic repeal of Austrian nationality.
The local newspaper Krone reported that the proposal had run into opposition from Austria’s ruling Social Democratic Party (SPO). The far-right Freedom Party (FPO), whose candidate lost Austrian presidency bid in 2016, said the result of the Turkish referendum showed the integration of Turks who arrived in the 1970-80s as guest workers had failed.
