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.

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distinguished guests, excellencies, dear friends of Alpbach,

and especially: Honourable Foreign Ministers of Austria, Romania, and the Czech Republic,

I am grateful that you are with us today. Your presence is a reminder that Europe’s strength is cooperation in practice.

This is my first opening of the Europe in the World Days as President of the European Forum Alpbach. I feel the honour – and I feel the duty.

We meet at a time when many certainties are no longer certain: a brutal war against Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, and rising geopolitical and economic tensions.

People feel that history has become heavier again — and they ask, with reason: where is Europe in all this?

I want to start with a simple fact: Europe is not small. 

Our Union is home to more than 450 million citizens. Our market is one of the largest in the world. Our science, our culture, our industry, our values — they matter.

Yet too often, the world does not hear our voice with the strength it deserves. Too often, we do not hear it ourselves.

That is what I want to give you as today’s „take away“: we will be taken seriously when we take ourselves seriously. When we act as a Union, not as a collection of hesitations. When we match our size with our will, and our words with results.

In recent years we learned, sometimes the hard way, that there is no way back to yesterday. War, pandemic, price pressures and climate urgency have changed the world around us. People feel it. They are less patient with speeches and more demanding of delivery. They want leaders who are calm in crisis, honest about trade-offs, and clear about direction. They want Europe to be present when decisions are made — not only informed afterwards.

Only days ago, the world watched the summit between President Trump and President Putin about Ukraine. The European Union was not at the table; Europe was briefed afterwards. That cannot be our role. We must be part of the decisions that shape our continent.

If we expect to be heard, we must stand behind our European representatives and stop whispering in 27 different directions.

Europe is not ignored because it is weak by nature. Europe is often ignored when it chooses to be small — when we fragment our market, delay what we decided together, or let vetoes win over common sense. The gap is not in our potential; the gap is between agreement and action. To close that gap, we must do a few things — not new things, but necessary things.

We learned this with vaccines, with energy, with sanctions, with support to Ukraine. Every time we moved together, we mattered. Every time we moved apart, we paid for it.

We must protect what makes us credible: our democracy, the rule of law, human dignity,the dignity of facts, respect for minorities and free media. These are not accessories. They are security assets. Partners trust us because of them. Our own citizens trust us because of them.

Some will say that the world will move on without us anyway — that others will cut deals over other people’s heads, that force will speak louder than law, that the age of rules is over. I do not accept that. 

Law without power is naïve. Power without law is dangerous. Europe’s mission is to unite the two. 

This brings me to Alpbach. Alpbach is different. It is not a stage for shouting. It is a place for listening, for thinking, for speaking with respect. And for bringing people, disciplines and interests together. Here, we take time for the questions that do not fit into a news cycle. That may be against the current zeitgeist of hurry and outrage. But leadership, real leadership, means making time for what truly matters.

So, in these Europe in the World Days, I ask that we use the European Forum Alpbach for what it does best: to ask the difficult questions — and to ask them together.

• Are we ready to speak with one voice when it counts, not only when it is easy?
• Are we ready to turn common decisions into common delivery?
• Are we ready to explain to our citizens not only what we want, but what it takes — the choices, costs, and benefits?

As Jean-Claude Juncker once put it: “We all know what to do; we just don’t know how to get re-elected after we’ve done it.” Honesty demands we learn how – because not doing the right thing is no longer an option.

If our answer to these questions is yes, Europe will be heard. If our answer is yes, our partners will see Europe not as a commentator, but as a reliable partner at the table. And our young people will look to Europe not as a promise delayed, but as a future they can build.

Let me say again what I hope you will take from this opening: Europe will be taken seriously when it takes itself seriously — in its words, in its will, and in its work.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we will not solve everything in these days. But we can do something more important: we can set a direction and commit to it. We can bring honesty to our debates and courage to our choices. We can make Europe’s size visible again — not only in numbers, but in purpose.

Thank you for your trust. Thank you for your commitment for a strong and united Europe. And thank you for giving us, what the world rarely gives us: your time — time to think deeply, to decide wisely, and to act together.

Let‘s start here in Alpbach. Thank you very much.

The post „Every time we moved together, we mattered“ #EFA25 first appeared on Othmar Karas.

Willkommen in der BürgerInnenkammer Europas, willkommen in Europa.

Diese Konferenz ist kein Marketinggag, sie ist eine Premiere, sie ist eine Notwendigkeit – wie die meisten Redner heute gesagt haben. Sie ist ein dynamischer Prozess und sie ist eine Chance – nützen wir diese Chance!

Wir, die Bürgerinnen und Bürger Europas können die Verantwortung über unsere gemeinsame Zukunft – die Zukunft Europas – nicht abschieben. Wir, jeder von uns sollte sie selbst übernehmen.

„Die Zukunft wird jenen gehören, die wieder Hoffnung signalisieren können.“, hat Teilhard de Chardin einmal gesagt.

Wenn wir die Hoffnungen der Bürgerinnen und Bürger in die europäische Idee, in die liberale Demokratie, in das europäische Projekt erfüllen wollen, müssen wir demokratischer werden, handlungsfähiger werden, innovativer statt nationalpopulistischer, sozialer und Blockaden beseitigen, grüner, entschlossener, aufrichtiger, politischer, geeinter sein. Wir müssen mit den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern, die in Europa leben einen neuen Vertrag für Europa erarbeiten und bei der ersten europaweiten Volksabstimmung die Mehrheit der Staaten, die Mehrheit der Bürger mit der nächsten Europaparlamentswahl abstimmen.

Nehmen wir uns Robert Schumann und seine Rede vom 9. Mai 1950 zum Vorbild. Es gilt die Ereignisse, die wir beschreiben mit mehr Miteinander und einer neuen Solidarität zu beantworten.

Die Konferenz zur Zukunft Europas ist eine Chance unsere EU demokratischer, effizienter und sozialer zu machen. Am Ende muss ein neuer Vertrag für Europa stehen, der den Anliegen der BürgerInnen gerecht wird. Über diesen müssen wir gemeinsam mit der nächsten EU-Wahl abstimmen. pic.twitter.com/IXZmG8gIaY

— Othmar Karas (@othmar_karas) June 20, 2021

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