Austrian EU Council Presidency 2018

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Austrian EU Council Presidency 2018 logo
logo
country AustriaAustria Austria
Term of office July 1, 2018 - December 31, 2018
Chair Gernot Blümel
Web presence eu2018.at
trio
EstoniaEstonia Estonia , Bulgaria , AustriaBulgariaBulgaria AustriaAustria 
chronology
◀   Bulgaria Romania   ▶

The Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2018 (also called Council Presidency or Council Presidency ) refers to the presidency of the Republic of Austria in the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2018. It was Austria's third Council Presidency after 1998 and 2006, after joining the EU in 1995 is .

history

Originally, the Austrian Presidency was planned for the first half of 2019, after the United Kingdom resigned due to its planned exit from the EU , all subsequent Presidency countries moved forward by half a year. After 1999 and 2006, it was Austria's third presidency since Austria joined the EU in 1995. On July 1, 2017, Austria formed a trio with Estonia and Bulgaria . The country was replaced from the Council Presidency on January 1, 2019 by Romania .

2016

In June 2016, a steering group was set up under the joint chairmanship of the Federal Chancellery and the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs . All ministries and representatives of parliament , the federal states , the presidential office and the social partners are represented in this. The tasks of the steering group include preparing the content and planning the political meetings and other events. In December 2016, an executive secretariat responsible for organizational and logistical issues was set up in the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs.

2017

At the end of November 2017, the draft presidency calendar was officially submitted to the EU Council Secretariat in Brussels. Most informal EU meetings should take place in Vienna ; individual EU Councils of Ministers are planned in Linz (Energy Council), Alpbach (Agriculture Council) and Graz (Environment and Transport Council). The informal summit of EU heads of state and government on internal security on September 20, 2018 in Vienna should deal with controls at the EU's external borders , information exchange, operational cooperation, security and law enforcement in cyberspace and the prevention of radicalization. At the beginning of the Austrian EU Council Presidency, a conference on integration issues was planned in Vienna on July 4, 2018. Among other things, the Prinz Eugen Winter Palace was to serve as the venue for negotiations .

After the inauguration of the Federal Government Kurz I on December 18, 2017, a new division of departments was decided two days later through an amendment to the Federal Ministries Act , which came into force on January 8, 2018. According to government spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal , the Federal Chancellery and Chancellery Minister Gernot Blümel ( ÖVP ) should take care of fundamental questions relating to the EU, the coordination of the Austrian position and the preparations for the EU presidency. The Foreign Ministry under Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl (independent, nominated by the FPÖ ) is responsible for bilateral relations with EU member states and European non-EU members.

2018

Meeting of the Federal Government Brief I with the European Commission on July 6, 2018
The access area to the Austria Center Vienna , adapted for the 2018 EU Council Presidency , where most of the events take place

Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen invited the heads of state of the Austrian EU Council Presidency partners Estonia and Bulgaria to the Vienna Philharmonic's 2018 New Year's Concert . Van der Bellen and his wife Doris Schmidauer welcomed the Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid and her husband Georgi Rene Maksimovski as well as the Bulgarian President Rumen Radew and his wife Desislawa Radewa to the Vienna Musikverein .

During the six months, a construction site stop on important traffic routes in Vienna was planned, including construction work on underground line 2 (U2) and underground line 5 (U5). During this time, private construction sites were also restricted; in the zones around the event locations, these had to meet special requirements. Among other things, the aim was to prevent construction site parts from being used for purposes other than those intended and thus becoming a possible danger.

In March 2018 presented Sebastian Kurz , Gernot Bluemel and Karin Kneissl the priorities of the Austrian EU Presidency in the second half of 2018. As the biggest challenges in the EU Short saw the completion of the EU-outlet of the United Kingdom and the creation of the EU multiannual Finanzrahmes by 2020. Kneissl declared bringing the countries of Southeastern Europe closer to the EU as a priority, and she also wanted to represent Federica Mogherini , EU foreign affairs officer , where necessary and desired . The cost of the chairmanship was estimated at 43 million euros. In June 2018 it was announced that, according to the response from the ministries, the material costs would amount to 92.8 million euros, additional personnel costs were not yet taken into account.

Also in March 2018, around 90 people from different countries called for a boycott of FPÖ ministers and the Austrian EU Council Presidency; the call published in the Israeli daily Haaretz was signed by Bernard Kouchner , José Ramos-Horta and Miguel Ángel Moratinos, among others .

On June 6th, the entire Austrian government flew to Brussels to hold an informal, one-hour Council of Ministers at the Permanent Representation of Austria to the European Union . The program for the Council Presidency was then fine-tuned together with the EU Commission. A total of 59 people traveled to Brussels for the Council of Ministers, the travel costs were around 48,000 euros.

On June 30, 2018, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissow handed over the chairmanship to Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz as part of a festival under the motto “Servus Europe” on the Planai in Schladming . Seer , Opus and Cesár Sampson , among others, took care of the musical design . The cost of the kick-off event amounted to around 2.7 million euros.

On the occasion of the Austrian Council Presidency, Austrian Post issued a special stamp with the words EU RATS PRÄSIDENTSCHAFT .

On December 21, 2018, Federal Chancellor Kurz symbolically handed over the EU Council Presidency to Romania in a meeting with Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă and President Klaus Johannis in Bucharest .

In December 2018 it became known that at the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers at the end of August in Vienna, a forged admission card with a photo of Emperor Franz Joseph I, who died in 1916, including the corresponding name, was said to have been in circulation. The Green Federal Councilor Ewa Dziedzic made a parliamentary question on how a forged admission card could be issued.

A total of 2062 meetings were prepared and chaired by the members of Austria's permanent representation to the EU in the six months. Four EU summits took place during the Council Presidency, 36 councils of ministers in Brussels and 13 informal ones in Austria. The Council Presidency partners were Porsche Austria (with Audi and VW ), ORF , ÖBB , Wiener Städtische Versicherung , Vöslauer , Rauch , Austrian Post , Heindl, Mondi , DHL , A1 Telekom Austria , Microsoft , Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur Augarten and “ Zur Schwäbischen Jungfrau ”.

Under the Austrian Presidency, "53 political agreements were reached with the European Parliament and 75 agreements in the Council, 56 conclusions and recommendations were adopted, 509 further Council decisions were reached and 52 legal acts were signed by the Council and the European Parliament."

2019

In March 2019, government spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal announced that around 36.4 million euros had been drawn from the central budget of 42.2 million euros by January 31, 2019. Among other things, this covered the costs for the permanent conference facility Austria Center Vienna . The ministries incurred costs totaling around 56.7 million euros, which were funded by the ministries. According to the Institute for Higher Studies , the Council Presidency is said to have contributed around 136.9 million euros to Austria's gross domestic product .

reception

In the Handelsblatt, Hans-Peter Siebenhaar gave seven reasons why Austria's EU Council Presidency was disappointing. He came to the conclusion that the possibilities of an EU Council Presidency are very limited, especially if it is a small country with a manageable economic weight. However, the Republic of Austria has proven that it is an excellent host who also masters complex logistics. The exceptionally good organization of the many ministerial meetings and the EU summit in Salzburg would be an example of the professional host role. Similar to Rainer Nowak in the daily newspaper Die Presse , who said that Austria had managed the task almost perfectly from an organizational point of view and had chosen the right locations and settings.

The German newspaper Bild said that Transport Minister Norbert Hofer had “snored” the Europe-wide time change , that the “Dösi-Ösi” had succeeded in stifling “all dynamics of the EU flagship project” during the Council Presidency. His spokeswoman replied that Hofer had tried everything to solve the problem. Christoph Pinter, Head of the Austria Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR , said that migration was a focus of the EU Council Presidency, but that there were no “decisive decisions”.

Priorities of the Austrian EU Council Presidency

The priorities of the Austrian Presidency were:

In line with the motto of the Austrian Presidency - "A Europe that protects" - the effective protective function of the EU was placed in the foreground in three priority areas in particular:

Web links

Commons : Austrian EU Council Presidency 2018  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ eur2018.at: Council of the European Union and Council Presidency: The Presidency of the Council (also called "Council Presidency" or "Council Presidency") . Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  2. ↑ “Brexit” pushes EU presidency into election time. In: orf.at. July 27, 2017, accessed December 1, 2017 .
  3. ↑ EU Council Presidency 2018 - BMEIA, Austrian Foreign Ministry . Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  4. ↑ derStandard.at: Austria's timetable for the EU Council Presidency comes on November 30th . Article dated November 23, 2017, accessed December 1, 2017.
  5. ↑ Kleine Zeitung: Planning for Austria's EU Presidency: Europe's ministers are also coming to Graz . Article dated November 30, 2017, accessed December 1, 2017.
  6. ↑ orf.at: 2018 EU Councils of Ministers in Vienna, Linz, Alpbach and Graz . Article dated November 30, 2017, accessed December 1, 2017.
  7. ^ "Brexit" negotiations in the Winter Palace. In: orf.at. November 5, 2017, accessed December 1, 2017 .
  8. ↑ derStandard.at: How the responsibilities of the ministries were divided . Article dated December 19, 2017, accessed December 19, 2017.
  9. ↑ derStandard.at: Kneissl and Blümel both want to have authority over the EU . Article dated December 23, 2017, accessed December 23, 2017.
  10. ↑ diepresse.com: European celebrities for the new year . Article dated December 27, 2017, accessed December 27, 2017.
  11. ^ Wiener Zeitung: Public transport: U5 is delayed . Article dated December 1, 2017, accessed December 1, 2017.
  12. ↑ orf.at: EU Presidency: Private construction sites also restricted . Article dated March 17, 2018, accessed March 17, 2018.
  13. ↑ derStandard.at: Government presents program for Austria's EU Council Presidency . Article dated March 9, 2018, accessed March 9, 2018.
  14. ↑ derStandard.at: EU presidency should cost twice as much as stated . Article dated June 3, 2018, accessed June 4, 2018.
  15. ^ Salzburger Nachrichten: Austria's upcoming EU presidency controversial . Article dated March 14, 2018, accessed March 15, 2018.
  16. ^ Government in Brussels: Briefly wants "a Europe that protects". Die Presse, June 6, 2018, accessed June 8, 2018 .
  17. ↑ orf.at: Council of Ministers in Brussels cost just under 50,000 euros . Article dated August 8, 2018, accessed August 8, 2018.
  18. ↑ orf.at: Austria takes over EU Presidency on Planai . Article dated June 2, 2018, accessed June 2, 2018.
  19. ↑ orf.at: The Council Presidency kick-off in Schladming cost 2.7 million euros . Article dated August 21, 2018, accessed August 22, 2018.
  20. ^ Diepresse.com: ridicule for the EU postage stamp of the Post . Article dated July 11, 2018, accessed July 11, 2018.
  21. ↑ Kleine Zeitung: EU stamp without Croatia: Post pulls emergency brake . Article dated July 9, 2018, accessed July 11, 2018.
  22. ↑ orf.at: EU Council Presidency goes to Romania . Article dated December 21, 2018, accessed December 21, 2018.
  23. ↑ orf.at: ID card for Emperor Franz Josef at the Vienna EU ministerial meeting . Article dated December 21, 2018, accessed December 21, 2018.
  24. ↑ orf.at: Austria's EU Council Presidency: Sovereign duty, problems with the freestyle . Article dated December 25, 2018, accessed December 25, 2018.
  25. ^ Federal Chancellery Austria: Partner. Retrieved March 2, 2019 .
  26. ↑ orf.at: 52 new laws under Austria's Council Presidency . Article dated May 13, 2019, accessed May 13, 2019.
  27. ↑ Expenditures of the central budget for the Council Presidency remained below cost expectations . OTS announcement of March 15, 2019, accessed March 15, 2019.
  28. ↑ Seven reasons why Austria's EU Council Presidency was a disappointment . Article dated December 15, 2018, accessed December 21, 2018.
  29. ↑ Breaking bridges instead of building bridges - Disappointment with Sebastian Kurz's EU Council Presidency . Article dated December 28, 2018, accessed December 29, 2018.
  30. ↑ Austria remains the center of Europe . Article dated December 21, 2018, accessed December 21, 2018.
  31. ↑ a b Austrian EU Presidency: Differences about debits and credits . Article dated December 28, 2018, accessed December 29, 2018.
  32. ↑ [1] euractiv.de: Austria announces priorities of the Council Presidency
  33. ↑ [2] eu2018.at: “A Europe that protects” - priorities of the Austrian EU Council Presidency
predecessor Office successor
Bulgarian EU Council Presidency EU Council Presidency
July 1, 2018 - December 31, 2018 		Romanian EU Council Presidency