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IEP Lunch Debate with Dr. Hans WINKLER: “Priorities of the Austrian Council Presidency”

left to right: Dr. Barbara Lippert, Dr. Mathias Jopp (both IEP); State Secretary Dr. Hans Winkler

Dr. Hans WINKLER, State Secretary in the Austrian Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Vienna, opened his talk by stating that Austria will conduct its presi­dency in an inter­me­diary and coordi­nating role. Therefore, Vienna prefers the term “chair” instead of president and will pursue close contact with the other member states and European insti­tu­tions. Especially the European Parliament (EP) will enjoy an important place in planning the presi­dency, and clear agreement will be sought with that body. The decla­ration of Federal Chancellor Schüssel to the European Parliament and its following clari­fi­cation should also be under­stood in this context. In terms of substance, the Austrian Council presi­dency will place emphasis on five main points:

First, the area of the financial perspective: though the heads of state and government reached a basic agreement last December, this still remains to be imple­mented concretely. The difficult work of trans­ferring the global figures to individual posts remains to be completed. In addition, consistent agreement with the European Parliament should not be under­es­ti­mated. The rejection of the budget compromise during the last plenary session clearly demon­strated that there is still much work to be done and that the European Parliament is to be actively included in the negotiations.

Second, the question of the consti­tu­tional treaty must still be addressed. Even if the document is declared dead by many, it still exists until it has been formally annulled. But on the other hand, it can only come into force after all member states have ratified it. A way out of this dilemma must be found. In this respect, the process of the national debates – especially in states where the ratifi­cation has failed or has been postponed – must be continued. The task of the Austrian presi­dency is thus to consol­idate these discus­sions and, by the end of June, make proposals for further steps forward. This however does not mean that the Austrian presi­dency will solve the consti­tu­tional crisis, especially since no funda­mental changes in the situation are expected before the elections in France and the Nether­lands. Much more attention will be given to devel­oping a timetable for further progress while winning back the trust of the population for the European integration project.

This also relates to the third main point of the Austrian chair­manship, which aims at artic­u­lating the idea that Europe plays a valuable role in the area of economy, labor and employment and is also in a position to protect the European social model. This model, which Winkler charac­terized as the “European Way of Life”, relates above all to securing the economic standard of living with concurrent social safeguards for the individual; in this model the state also has a strong roll in guaran­teeing public services.

Winkler identified the fourth main point as the “future of Europe in a different sense”. The service directive has meanwhile become a symbol for an ideological conflict between unrestricted free trade and social protec­tionism. Here, a compromise must be found between social and market economic elements. Moreover, EU Commis­sioner Verheugen struck a nerve with his concept of “better regulation”. Winkler stated that, in the future, we must ask ourselves more strongly where Europe’s respon­si­bil­ities and compe­tencies lie in order to avoid these types of conflict.

Finally, the fifth main point of the Austrian Council presi­dency is in the area of foreign policy. It needs to be made clear which role Europe will play in the world. Austria will – for historical reasons – place additional emphasis on Balkan policy. The countries of the western Balkans need a European perspective in order to secure peace and stability in the long term, but this does not however mean that the accession of these states is close at hand. The fears among the European population of the unlimited enlargement of the EU must be taken seriously and so must credi­bility in the negoti­a­tions with the respective countries. If Austria brings substantial successes in these five areas, says Winkler, the Austrian Council presi­dency will have made a valuable contri­bution to leading Europe out of its current crisis.

Dr. Daniel Göler, Research Associate in the project “A Citizens’ Europe: Consti­tution and Efficient Policy”, carried out by the ASKO Europa Foundation and the IEP.