No brass music, no rifle marches, no salvos of honor: the 75th edition of the European Forum Alpbach opened completely differently on Sunday evening due to the corona – subject to safety requirements and with a one and a half hour kick-off event in the congress center. Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen used his speech to promote a common, greener European future.
“The pandemic has shown us drastically how international developments and crises can affect us from one day to the next,” explained Van der Bellen, who, like all the other invited guests, had to go through the “Corona security check” in the entrance area. It is the first time that the forum has opted for “digital” to this extent. This is also one of the important lessons from the pandemic: “Much more is possible than we previously thought.” In this context, Van der Bellen also alluded to the climate crisis: “Hopefully sooner or later, science will have developed a vaccine against Covid-19: But there will be no vaccine against the climate crisis. That is why we have to act – each and every one of us “.
The crisis also showed how connected all countries in the world are. Going it alone is not a solution. In this context, Van der Bellen highlighted the compromise on an EU budget package and the “substantial joint plan” agreed at the “historic summit” to rebuild the economies – in addition to the national programs: “You have the fundamental lesson learned that the pandemic teaches us: Together we are stronger “.
Forum President and ex-EU Commissioner Franz Fischler pointed out in his speech – due to the coronavirus – only 75 admitted guests that many problems were virulent even before the coronavirus and were also co-causal. Fischler also underlined the importance of this year’s forum motto “Fundamentals”, under which human rights, environmental protection, justice and trust in the democratic system must also be subsumed.
In any case, the Alpbach Forum had “become more democratic” as a result of Corona, said Fischler and pointed to the “participation” made possible by digital platforms around the world. In a panel discussion that followed the speeches with digital connections from distant countries, the ex-ÖVP politician also spoke out in favor of progressing European integration – but the “United States of Europe” was not a suitable concept for him.
The European Forum Alpbach, which has existed since 1945, is breaking new ground this year due to the corona and is mainly taking place online. Many high-ranking guests such as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres want to participate in the forum, which has been shortened to twelve days. The international guests planning to travel to Alpbach include the Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya, her Luxembourg counterpart Jean Asselborn, the Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga and Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the EU Commission. In addition to Guterres, the Argentine Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Guzman, Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz and the US political scientist Joseph Nye, but also the Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the former EU Commissioner Margot Wallström and the social entrepreneur and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
The Austrian Federal Government will again be widely represented this year – with Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Ministers Karoline Edtstadler, Elisabeth Köstinger, Margarete Schramböck (all ÖVP), Leonore Gewessler and Alma Zadic (both Greens) as well as Ministers Alexander Schallenberg and Heinz Fassmann (both ÖVP), some of which will be connected online.
In the run-up to the meeting, President Fischler spoke of a kind of “reinvention” of the forum. There will be “a large number of hybrid events” with partial presence in Alpbach and the inclusion of speakers broadcast from Alpbach, but also purely digital events, not all of which originated in Alpbach, but in cooperation with alumni associations other places like Brussels, London or “the most distant” in India would be held.
From Monday, the focus on the first days of the conference will primarily be on health topics, which are naturally also dominated by the corona crisis. On Tuesday afternoon, Guterres will speak live on the future of multilateralism and the United Nations.
Those: APA
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