CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 04/2019

L’AUTRICHE INTERVIEW
ropean law scene, for he regularly took his
assistants to conferences in Salzburg, Graz,
Bregenz, Linz or Vienna. In that way, Austria
became a second home for me over the
years.
What difference can you make in your position?
Today, the representatives of the European
Commission to the various EU member
states report directly to the President of
the Commission. We are the eyes and ears
of the Commission President in the member
states and want to contribute to a better
understanding between the EU institutions
and the member states. We are mediators
and bridge builders, though we do not explain
the politics of a given member state,
but those of the complex EU, which is always
making an effort to promote and protect
the continent’s shared interests. I have
spent the past 15 years working right in the
heart of the EU and now my desk is located
in the heart of Europe in Vienna. I will be
doing a lot of listening here to find new
commonalities between Austria and the
Commission. To do so, I will, of course,
also regularly visit the individual provinces.
For Europe cannot be governed from
above but must grow over time and together
with the local people.
How do you view Europe’s role in the context of
the increasing power shifts around the world?
The central task of the new Commission
is, undoubtedly, Europe’s positioning on
the world stage. For Europe has been pulled
out of its decades-long post-war comfort
zone by way of three major events: the annexation
of Crimea in February 2014
which breached international law, the Brexit
referendum from 23 June 2016 and the
election of Donald Trump as the 45th President
of the United States of America at
the end of 2016 – three events that completely
transformed the coordination system
within which we Europeans live and work.
Putin’s annexation of Crimea has shaken
the European post-war order. Borders were
challenged, military violence in the eastern
part of our continent once again became a
viable political tool – something we
thought we had long overcome. We were
painfully reminded of the fact that peaceful
cooperation is not a matter of course. This
is why Europe can no longer just be a soft
power but will – as Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen recently put it – have
to “learn how to speak the language of power
again.” The EU will, for example, also
have to become a defence union as quickly
as possible. Europe will have to assume
more responsibility here on a step-by-step
basis in order to be able to defend its partners
militarily in the East, as well as in the
South, in case of an emergency. Only if Europe
manages to act in a stronger and more
unified manner in the coming years, we
will be able to assume our natural role in
the world and be able to defend our values
and standards.
Will Brexit become an endless story?
The Brexit referendum has awakened us
Europeans and shown us that the EU is not
a process that always moves forward in a
single direction. Unfortunately, it can go
backwards, too. However, the EU came together
in a remarkable way after the referendum.
Back then, many feared that Brexit
would be the beginning of the end and
that other countries may soon follow suit.
The other 27 EU member states, however,
have – thanks to the leadership of EU institutions
– managed to meet the United
Kingdom in a unified manner during the
negotiation period. A few months after the
Brexit referendum, EU leaders convened
during a summit in Bratislava and agreed
on a future programme for the union of 27:
on a Europe which protects its citizens,
which is a pioneer in digitalisation and
which collaborates more on questions such
as defence, security and foreign policy. The
EU did not let itself be divided but has
instead set new and ambitious goals for itself.
And this approach has had positive effects,
for more people trust the EU today
than they did prior to the Brexit referendum.
The trade war truce with the US that
PHOTOS: RALPH MANFREDA
Commission President Juncker cleverly negotiated
with US President Trump only
succeeded because Europe acted from a
position of unity and strength. In the future,
we will have to view foreign policy
even more than we do now as a tool
through which Europe can position its values
in the world. We have to continue to
develop and modernise our trade policies
and actively make new trade deals with our
partners. Otherwise, adherents of “America
First” and their allies will shape the
world in their own image and that would
probably not be the kind of world us Europeans
would want. The new European
Commission under President Ursula von
der Leyen therefore wants, quite consciously,
to be a geopolitical commission. For we
Europeans will have to take our fate into
our own hands in the coming years more
than ever if we want to maintain our values,
standards and our freedom.
THE ROARING TWENTIES
ARE BACK
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74 Cercle Diplomatique 4/2019