Austrian ambassador: No more wars, we want unity

Austrian ambassador: No more wars, we want unity

"Some people, like Cambridge historian Christopher Clark, believe much worse ultimatums have been given throughout history. This is a matter for the historians. Nevertheless, we in Austria today believe that the intention was for the ultimatum to be unacceptable and to start a war."

After planting a tree of peace in the yard of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade on Wednesday, the former seat of Austria-Hungary's diplomatic mission in Belgrade, together with Serbian Prime Minister Vučić, on Wednesday, Eigner commented on the lessons Austria drew from the 1914-1918 bloodshed.

"The most important lesson that we have learned is that the Latin adage 'Si vis pacem, para bellum' (If you want peace, prepare for war) is not true. Everybody was preparing for war at that time, believing to be guarding the peace that way. But it was precisely the opposite. We got a war," Eigner said.

The Austrian ambassador said that today, his country wanted to look into the future, to build unity.

"Our biggest interest is to finish the enlargement of the European Union in this entire region. Our interest is that all of these countries, when they are ready, become full-fledged member-states of the EU. There are economic, but also political reasons for that, stability of the region being the most important one," said Eigner.