Society 379

SOCIETY
Alexander Schallenberg:
A plea for open democracy
and international solidarity
SOCIETY Magazine spoke with Austria’s Federal
Minister for European and International Affairs,
Mag. Alexander Schallenberg, about current pressing
issues, Austria and its role as a neutral mediator and
the importance of a multilateral approach in times of
crises and beyond.
Your second term as Foreign Minister
started on January 7, 2020. What are
the top priorities on your agenda this
time? Which aspects of your work
as Foreign Minister are of particular
concern to you?
Among the 193 UN member states,
only about a quarter still represent
this Western, open democratic model
of life, which is precisely what we must
defend together. For me, a key objective
of my work as Foreign Minister can
be summed up in one sentence: I want
to help ensure that my children and
grandchildren also grow up in a free
and open society – with freedom of
speech, freedom of assembly, freedom
of religion and all the fundamental
rights we have achieved since 1848 or
perhaps since the French Revolution.
The COVID-19 crisis underlined once
more the degree of globalization our
world has reached. Can Austria draw
lessons from this situation and if so,
which ones? Do we have to reconsider
certain dependencies and certain
approaches?
COVID-19 has taught us the hard way
that much we take for granted is more
vulnerable than we believe. The pandemic
has given us a powerful lesson in
the necessity of international solidarity
and multilateralism in the face of global
challenges. After all, even the toughest
“my-state-first unilateralists” looked for
international cooperation to secure
medical supplies and assistance to
overcome the social and economic
crisis. I hope that we learn from the
pandemic to avoid the mistake of
falling into navel-gazing within our own
national or European borders.
Since April 2021, the Iran Nuclear
Talks are taking place again in Vienna,
with the Republic of Austria having
a long history of being a “neutral
mediator”. How can this role be
successfully maintained in view of
recent criticism? Austria was widely
accused of taking sides in the Middle
East conflict. How would you define
Austria‘s foreign policy?
We are happy to have the negotiations
on the JCPOA back in Vienna, and we
are quite optimistic that despite all
difficulties the “Vienna spirit” will work
its magic again. Austria’s role continues
very much as a host to international
organisations, conferences and
negotiations and as builder of bridges.
This applies of course also to Israel
and the Arab and Muslim world.
We have shown our solidarity with
Israel because we will not remain
silent when more than 4000 rockets
are fired on civilian targets in Israel by
Hamas – a terrorist group notorious
for its antisemitism that denies Israel’s
right to exist and does not shy away to
put Palestinian civilians in harm’s way.
To anyone who accuses us of taking a
one-sided position, I want to be very
clear: there can be no neutrality in the
face of terror. We have deeply regretted
the loss of civilian lives on both
sides, including children, and welcomed
the cease-fire between Israel
and Hamas. Now, we must pick up the
pieces and restore not only houses,
schools and hospitals, but very
importantly confidence – with a view
to a return to direct talks between the
sides. Our position on the Middle East
conflict has not changed: we want a
Foto: Paier Alexander
COVERSTORY
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