Minister for European Affairs Edtstadler: Inaugural Visit to Brussels

PeoplePoliticians ♦ Published: January 23, 2020; 13:50 ♦ (Vindobona)

During her inaugural visit to Brussels, the new European Affairs Minister Karoline Edtstadler met members of the EU Commission as well as the Special Representative for the Fight against Anti-Semitism, Katharina von Schnurbein. In the course of her talks with EU Neighbourhood Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, Edtstadler stressed that "Austria remains committed to the rapid start of EU accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania".

Mag. Karoline Edtstadler was sworn in as Federal Minister in the Federal Chancellery by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on 7 January 2020. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / BMEIA; Angelika Lauber [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

"I am confident that the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Zagreb in May will give the green light on this point", said Edtstadler. But France's efforts to reform the enlargement process were also supported, he said.

With regard to the next multi-year EU budget, Edtstadler underlined Austria's position as a net contributor: "Our government is interested in a strong but lean EU…