Nehammer: The EU is the best guarantor of peace

Nehammer: The EU is the best guarantor of peace

At the 18th Salzburg European Summit, Nehammer said that it will never be simple in the EU with many different interests, but that we should stop raising hopes that cannot be fulfilled.

"Any compromise that is found with so many different interests is a great success," he explained. According to him, with the sanctions against Russia, the entire EU showed unity, because it is clear throughout Europe that politics on European soil must no longer be conducted by military means. Now, he says, the challenge is to preserve that unity and find an answer to the question of which sanctions are effective enough and how to proceed with this war.

"The unity of the EU is an important signal to the one who started the war, which is the Russian Federation," underlined Nehammer. He expressed regret that the European Commission did not act on the issue of migration for too long, even though many member states have been warning about this problem for years. The commission submitted the proposals late, and did not implement them quickly enough, he added. He conveyed that the member states are united in that it is necessary to have a quick procedure for resolving asylum applications at the external border of the EU, as well as the quick return of migrants.

That the current asylum system is completely unsuccessful is shown by the fact that Austria is faced with a huge number of asylum seekers, which forces it to set up tents for accommodation, and does not receive any help from the EU, the chancellor stated. In the energy crisis, it is considered that the EU proved stronger than expected. He pointed out that Austria has achieved 85 percent occupancy of its gas storages, while the goal was 80 percent, while reducing dependence on Russia from 80 to 50 percent, which is still too high. Nehammer pointed out that the EU must jointly buy gas, in order to contribute to the reduction of the price.

As far as EU enlargement is concerned, he says that Austria sees itself as a "builder of bridges" to the Western Balkans, reminding of the advocacy for the start of accession negotiations for North Macedonia and Albania, and the candidate status for Bosnia and Herzegovina.