Minister Schallenberg Visits the USA

Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg is meeting his US counterpart Antony Blinken in Washington this afternoon (local time). The State Department will also discuss the significance and consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. "We are in a systemic debate," said Schallenberg. "How we act will shape our reputation." If the West can be divided, it will lose influence in Africa, for example. If, for example, the EU does not succeed in taking a united stand with the USA against Russian aggression and showing unity shortly, the consequences would be felt "not immediately, but in five years", the Foreign Minister estimated. "Then there are others, Russia or China.” according to ORF.

As reported by Vienna.at, Concerning the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Schallenberg stated that this would continue well into 2023. The "end of suffering" has not yet come. In addition, "further escalation levels" must be expected. But that doesn't mean that the war will spread from Ukraine to the West: "NATO and the USA are careful not to get involved." However, it is legitimate to help defend a country whose sovereignty has been attacked. That does not make you "a war party". Nevertheless, every crisis also has "its good points," concluded the Foreign Minister. The West has shown impressive unity in the face of the intolerable events in Ukraine. However, it is always important to keep a sense of proportion and not "overshoot the mark".

As stated by ORF, according to Schallenberg, it is also about ideological geostrategies and setting the course. This also applies to the countries of the Western Balkans, for whose EU integration Austria has always campaigned. There, too, players other than the EU would try to exert influence. The relevant expertise and Austria's commitment to the Western Balkans region would also be pursued in the USA. Therefore, they are also interested in talks on several levels. "We have to bind the neighborhood to us," said Schallenberg. "Americans appreciate and appreciate what we do."

According to Vienna.at, as part of the "ReFocus Austria" initiative, Schallenberg will also speak to representatives of Austrian companies on the US market about opportunities and challenges for the Austrian export industry. A discussion with young students on the geopolitical consequences of the Russian attack on Ukraine and the united European-American response to it is also planned at the renowned Johns Hopkins University. This is Foreign Minister Schallenberg's third bilateral meeting with a US counterpart. At the beginning of February 2020, Schallenberg was in Washington with the then-Republican Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. In August 2020, Pompeo made a return visit to Vienna, where he also met Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, the then Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and other members of the government.

Before the corona pandemic and the election of the Democrat Joe Biden as US President, there had been more intensive contact between Vienna and Washington for a while. In 2019, for example, Kurz was a guest of the then-incumbent Donald Trump in the White House. The close relationship with the Republican President and the orientation to his sometimes controversial foreign policy line had also caused criticism. Among other things, Austria thereby deviated from the common positions of the EU on some issues, such as Middle East policy, also according to Vienna.at.