Final spurt at the Forum Alpbach – “Austria in Europe Days” from August 27th to 30th

In the super election year of 2024, the European Forum Alpbach (EFA) has “Moment of Truth” as its annual theme. Half of the world’s population – including Austria with the National Council elections in the fall – are making groundbreaking decisions for the coming years. In the midst of this highly politically exciting time, the most important actors from business, civil society and science are gathering in Alpbach. Here you will meet numerous members of the Austrian federal government and representatives from all parties to discuss Austria’s role in Europe, find solutions to the biggest challenges of our time and promote ideas for a strong Europe. More than half of the speakers are women.

Controversy surrounding the connection between economic and climate policy

The opening of the “Austria in Europe Days” initially focused on one of the most pressing questions of our time: How can economic and climate policy be linked? The designated EU Commissioner and current Austrian Finance Minister Magnus Brunner argued that “Before we can implement a Green Deal, we need a new deal for competitiveness.” EU MP Anna Stürgkh contradicted this: “We have to think about the economy and the climate together. Our economy must achieve the climate goals.” Die Climate activist Luisa Neubauer criticized the fact that the climate discussion is based on economic indicators: “GDP is an outdated way to assess the health of an economy. CO2 could be equally misleading: numbers are used to rationalize the story; “But these numbers are fairy tales about a planet that is dying.”

Reorganization and challenges in global governance

In the second part of the opening, the discussion revolved around the topic of multilateralism and the question of how it must and will change in the next few years. Thereby argued Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation, energetically that now is the time “to rethink the international project if we want to achieve broad participation in it.” While he took a more positive approach, emphasized Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relationsthat “Global governance has become more difficult, but also much more necessary.”

The European Forum Alpbach will take place until August 30th and brings together numerous personalities. The complete program and press photos can be found here: www.alpbach.org

AVISO: Discussion on the National Council election at the Forum Alpbach

At the end of the European Forum Alpbach 2024, EFA and ORF are organizing a discussion with representatives of all parliamentary parties on the occasion of the National Council election. The discussion will be moderated by ORF III editor-in-chief Lou Lorenz-Dittlbacher and will take place on August 30th. broadcast on ORF III from 8:15 p.m. Participants: – Karoline Edtstadler, Federal Minister, ÖVP – Julia Herr, Deputy Club Chairman, SPÖ – Susanne Fürst, Representative. to the National Council, FPÖ – Werner Kogler, Vice Chancellor and federal spokesman for the Greens – Beate Meinl-Reisinger, club chairwoman and chairwoman of NEOS Accreditation is necessary at: presse@alpbach.org

Datum: August 30, 2024, 9:00 a.m

Art: Choose

Ort: Congress Center Alpbach

Alpbach 246

6236 Alpbach

Austria

URL: https://www.alpbach.org/sessions/closing-austria-in-europe-days