I was delighted to welcome Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden to the Federal Chancellery today. At the center of our exchange were Europe’s competitiveness and security.
The figures show just how closely Austria and Luxembourg are already working together: Our bilateral trade has been growing for the second year in a row, and we plan to further expand the cooperation between our two countries. Luxembourg demonstrates how valuable good access to the financial and capital markets is—especially since more than 300 billion euros flow out of Europe to third countries like the USA every year, instead of being invested with us. This underscores how crucial a genuine capital markets union is for Europe.
Equally important for our competitiveness is reducing bureaucracy and ensuring affordable, reliable energy supplies. For me, climate and economic policy go hand in hand, which is why I’m particularly pleased that the European Commission has included the extension of free certificates in its revision proposal in response to my demand.
In addition, we discussed the geopolitical situation. For 4.5 years now, Russia’s war of aggression has been raging in Ukraine, and Europe is continuing to put pressure on Russia with the 21st sanctions package. We must not resign ourselves but must continue to work toward negotiations. The situation in the Middle East is also escalating, most recently evident in rising oil and gas prices. There needs to be a permanent opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and Europe must also actively engage here.
: Christian Stocker
Chancellor of Austria