Minister Edtstadler Wants to Maintain Unity in the European Union
Europe Minister Karoline Edtstadler said that the European Union must maintain unity despite the economy and the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Despite Tough Times, Europe Minister Karoline Edtstadler Calls for Maintaining Unity in the EU. / Picture: © Bundeskanzleramt (BKA) / Christoper Dunker
"The unity of the European Union has never been stronger than since the beginning of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine. We must do our utmost to preserve this unity for the future and to stand by Ukraine," emphasized Minister for Europe Karoline Edtstadler at the General Affairs Council in Brussels. She said that the EU is ready to adopt a tenth package of sanctions, which would focus on closing loopholes, providing for import and export bans, and listing new persons and entities. She said that "as Europe, we simply have to persevere because the sanctions must cease to have an effect in the long term. They must affect the aggressor more than us.” underlined Edtsdadler.
Another important concern of the federal minister, he said, is the prosecution of war crimes. "There is already countless evidence of the worst crimes. This needs to be secured so that it can later be processed before an international criminal court. Austria has worked to ensure that funds are available so that this can happen," emphasized Edstdadler.
The preliminary agenda for the meeting of the European Council of Heads of State and Government in March will also be discussed. Here too, the topics would be Ukraine, the economy, competitiveness, and migration. "Austria would like to bring the topic of migration to the forefront. Because it is time to set the implementation of the points decided at the Council and provide a concrete timetable. We need to move from words to deeds," explained Karoline Edtstadler.