„From a dream, to an idea, to reality“ #EFA25

Dear President Van der Bellen, Honourable President Rinkēvičs, distinguished guests, dear friends of Alpbach,

Thank you for being here. It is my honour — and my duty — to open the Austria in Europe Days for the first time as President of the EFA.

This year we mark 80 years of the European Forum Alpbach. Since 1945, this village has been a place where Europe learned to breathe again: to think freely, to listen respectfully, and to work across borders. Vision met responsibility here. Ideas met reality.

We also mark 30 years of Austria in the European Union. In 1995, Austria chose Europe — not as a slogan, but as a direction. It was a choice for freedom of movement, for the Single Market, for common rules, for shared responsibility. My generation remembers that journey. We remember when “Europe” was not yet a home, but a horizon. We remember the long debates, the referenda, the efforts to adapt and to contribute.

We moved from a dream, to an idea, to reality.

For many young Europeans today, this dream was already a reality when they were born. Erasmus is normal. Working in Munich or Madrid is normal. Paying in euro is normal. Peaceful borders are normal. The extraordinary has become ordinary — and that is a success story.

But look at the young people – for example from our Alpbach Clubs in Georgia, Montenegro, or Macedonia. They remind us of something essential: what many of us now take for granted is for others still a project of hope. They live and work for the same European promise that earlier generations in Austria, Germany or France once worked for.

This is why our words today matter.

Too often we treat European ambition as paperwork. We bureaucratise our visions. We call things “technical” that are actually political. Completing the Single Market, extending Schengen — yes, they matter. But they are not just files; they are signals: do we still believe in Europe enough to finish what we started?

Let me be clear. Vision does not mean ignoring details. But vision must come before the details. Did Robert Schuman in nineteen hundred fifty know every article of future treaties? Of course not. He offered a direction: peace through shared sovereignty, prosperity through a common market, dignity through the rule of law. The European Union of 1992 under the Maastricht Treaty was the mature expression of that direction — realised decades after the vision was first spoken, long after Schuman had left public office, even after his passing.

He did not work for the next headline. He worked for the next generation.

Today, politics is judged instantly. Every decision is measured in likes and polls. That makes patience harder. It also makes leadership more necessary. Leadership means planting trees under whose shade we may never sit. It means holding a course when the weather changes. It means saying yes to a good direction, even before you know every footnote.

Austria’s story inside Europe tells us that this courage pays off. Thirty years of membership have made us stronger, safer, more open. Our businesses grow across borders; our students learn across languages. We gained voice in the world by choosing a common voice in Europe. But we also know: nothing stays strong by itself. If we are honest, our challenge goes deeper. We must put Europe’s competitiveness on the ground. 

 Let me ask a simple question: How strong would we be if we were truly a UNION?

• Not twenty-seven parallel monologues, but one conversation with many accents.
• Not twenty-seven versions of the same rule, but one market that works.
• Not twenty-seven procurement plans, but defence that is compatible, affordable, and real.

A Union that matches its size with its will, and its words with results.

Europe does not lack talent, savings, or ideas. It sometimes lacks delivery. We decide together — and then we delay. We announce a goal — and then we make its implementation harder than necessary. Whenever we moved together — on vaccines, on energy, on support for Ukraine — Europe mattered. Whenever we moved apart, we paid.

The younger generation understands this. They are not asking for perfect institutions; they are asking for results they can feel. They ask us to stop confusing speed with haste, and patience with delay.

And here is where Alpbach has a special role. Alpbach is a place for dialogue, for different perspectives.A place where we take time for the questions that do not fit into a news cycle. Some might say this goes against the zeitgeist — that there is not enough action in reflection. As President, let me be crystal clear: this is exactly what we want. We want a Europe that thinks deeply, decides wisely, and acts together. We must show the next generation that a united Europe is not just a chapter in a history book — it is work in progress that needs their hands and hearts.

Let me close where I began: From a dream, to an idea, to reality — this has been Austria’s Europe journey, this has been the journey of millions of Europeans. Let us help others make the same journey, and let us keep making it ourselves: with vision, with patience, and with the quiet courage that the European Forum Alpbach has cultivated for eighty years.

Thank you.