Austria assumes EU presidency with tangible vow
Austria assumed the presidency of the European Union today with a pledge to make the 25-nation bloc “more tangible to our citizens”.
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel urged EU leaders to keep alive the idea of a common yet diverse continent, and Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik vowed to work to “boost citizens’ confidence in the European project”. Their pledges underscored the challenge of injecting new life into the EU at a time when public support is at an all-time low.
Only one in two Europeans thinks membership is a good thing, according to the most recent internal EU survey, and only 25% of Austrians say they support it.
French and Dutch voters cited misgivings over the direction of the rapidly-expanding EU when they rejected its first constitution last year. Today, Austrian leaders said they hoped to help Europeans regain their sense of purpose and revive interest in the draft accord, which was designed to streamline decision-making and give the EU a greater voice in international affairs.
“Our common, long-term goal must be to make Europe more comprehensible, more in keeping with the times and more tangible to our citizens,” Plassnik said in a New Year’s message, as the alpine country took over the EU’s rotating six-month presidency from Britain.
Schuessel, in his own New Year’s declaration, called for “a new momentum for Europe”.
“Above all, Austria would like to use its presidency to bring Europe to the people,” he said. “We need to take concrete steps to keep the idea of a common and diverse Europe alive.”
Austria’s presidency comes just six years after the EU slapped it with diplomatic sanctions in 2000 for bringing the anti-immigration Freedom Party into the alpine republic’s conservative coalition government, and only a few months after it tried – and failed – to block the EU from formally opening membership talks with predominantly Muslim Turkey.
Its leadership got off to a low-key start today with a private visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel, accompanied by her notoriously publicity-shy husband, research chemist Joachim Sauer attended the Vienna Philharmonic’s traditional New Year’s Day concert.
Merkel expressed hope that the sense of joy and celebration she felt at the concert would radiate across the EU.
“Europe must be economically successful,” said Merkel, whose country will oversee the EU in the first half of 2007.
Schuessel, Austrian President Heinz Fischer, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and European Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen also attended the concert, a tribute to Mozart, whose 250th birthday is being celebrated all year in Austria. The leaders lunched informally afterwards at the elegant Albertina museum.
Plassnik said Austria’s EU presidency would focus on improving everyday concerns such as jobs and economic growth – a theme echoed by Fischer, who called on EU leaders to ease unemployment, especially among young people whose cynicism towards Europe is growing.
Unemployment is running at about 8.5% across the EU, which is still recovering from an economic slowdown that started in 2004.
Britain’s EU presidency was marred by a bitter battle over the EU’s 2007-13 budget. Plassnik said the EU under Vienna’s guidance would work closely with the European Parliament to ensure a deal reached late last month is put into practice.
She said the Austrian presidency would give special attention to the Western Balkans, where increased security “is in Austria’s and Europe’s interest".
“We are doing everything in our power to bring the countries in this region closer to the European Union and to support them on their path to reform. We do not want an area of insecurity and instability between Italy and Greece,” she said.
