“With the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, a new political reality has emerged that must now also be recognized by decision-makers in Europe,” emphasized the liberal delegation leader in the European Parliament Harald Vilimsky today, referring to today’s ORF -Press hour with Christian Wigand, the acting head of the EU Commission in Austria. “Mr. Wigand and other EU representatives are rather sheepish about the fact that Trump will now be back in the White House,” emphasized Vilimsky. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other leading EU representatives had previously warned against Trump and strongly criticized him, although Wigand sees the EU as an important negotiating partner with the USA. “The only real political bridge builder between the USA and Europe is currently Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán,” Vilimsky emphasized.
During the press hour, Wigand was evasive on many questions, especially when it came to the topic of reducing bureaucracy and reducing the size of the EU Commission. Instead, he praised the Commission’s handling of the crisis so far and emphasized that it was on the right track. “In view of the ongoing investigations by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office into the vaccine procurement scandal involving Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, this can only be described as a bad joke,” emphasized the liberal head of the delegation. He called for this scandal to finally be comprehensively dealt with by a special committee in the European Parliament.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Wigand praised the introduction of the EU Defense Commissioner and raised the issue of the European Peace Facility, in which Austria was also involved. These statements met with massive criticism from FPÖ delegation leader Vilimsky: “Austria’s perpetual neutrality must not be abused by the EU Commission for its war plans by carelessly including it in any questionable cooperation where it is no longer of any use. It is an integral part of our republic and our constitution and the commission should adhere to it accordingly.”
Another key point was the controversial EU migration pact, which Wigand defended. Vilimsky, on the other hand, described this pact as a pure placebo policy and emphasized that only a decisive “no-way” policy could represent a real solution to the migration problem.
For Vilimsky, it is clear that after today’s press hour it is clearly evident that “business as usual”. “Green Deal, migration pact, more centralism and no peace initiatives with regard to Ukraine lead to further destabilization of Europe and a threatening loss of competitiveness. The FPÖ is calling for a rethink in EU politics and finally meaningful reforms that will ensure peace, freedom and prosperity for every citizen in the respective European states,” said Vilimsky.
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