Weekly Briefing: Austria Celebrates Its National Day
The Find out more about this week's developments. Austria celebrated its most important national holiday. Diplomacy and some international organizations celebrate their anniversaries. Read about the latest developments in diplomacy in Vienna and Austria.
Take five minutes to catch up on this week’s essential news! / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Filip Nohe [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.de)], modified and edited
National Day in Austria
The Austrian National Day (Nationalfeiertag) is celebrated annually on 26 October, the anniversary of the announcement of Austrian neutrality in 1955 and the departure of the last allied occupying forces from Austria. On this October 26, the national holiday will return to normality after two years of coronavirus mode. As the Austrian Armed Forces return in full force to their performance on Vienna's Heldenplatz, the doors of government and parliament reopen to the public.
Anniversaries for International Organizations
Next year, Vienna will have the special honour of hosting the General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organisation, or Interpol. The Assembly is particularly special because the international organisation will be celebrating its centenary next year.
At the invitation of the Austrian Commission for UNESCO, the celebrations of this year's double World Heritage anniversary took place. The motto of the event was "50 years of World Heritage - 30 years of ratification by the Republic of Austria" and took place in the historic Kursaal of the town of Baden near Vienna, itself part of the transnational World Heritage site "Great Spa Towns of Europe".
Diplomacy in Vienna and the World
The Hungarian President, Katalin Novák, is the first head of state to visit the re-elected President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen. The conversation between the two heads of state focused on the fight against illegal migration, climate change and the war in Ukraine.
At a recent event in Vienna, the focus was on preventing and combating terrorism. "Current challenges in the fight against terrorism - What Austria can learn from it" was organised by the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, the Israeli Embassy and the University of Continuing Education Krems.
To celebrate 130 years of bilateral relations between South Korea and Austria, the South Korean Prime Minister received Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. On the agenda are topics such as the security situation in the region, a visit to the Demilitarised Zone, business visits and the opening of an exhibition at the Museum of Art History.
Economic Developments and Business
Austrian Airlines recently announced that it plans to repay the government loan granted in 2020 to bridge the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of 2022. This is possible due to the increasing number of passengers and a particularly profitable summer.
Inflation in Austria is getting higher and higher. At 10.5%, it has now exceeded the magic limit of 10 percentage points and is thus considered the highest inflation in Austria since the post-war period.
What Else Happened This Week?
Dietrich Mateschitz passed away last weekend at the age of 78. The richest Austrian leaves behind a corporate empire and was considered one of the richest people in the world with an estimated fortune of over 27 billion US dollars.
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the research groups that will be awarded the prestigious Synergy Grant in the first call for proposals in the new Horizon Europe research framework program.
UNICEF Austria and the Directorate of Education for Vienna jointly launched the UNICEF Children's Rights Schools program in Vienna. According to the initiators, young people in particular need to be empowered in times of crisis. The first schools will start the program in October 2022.