EFA 365

On 6 May 2024, Enrico Letta, former Prime Minister of Italy, and Othmar Karas, First Vice-President of the European Parliament, led an insightful discussion on the future of the European Single Market. Here are the key takeaways:

• Fifth Pillar: The freedom to enhance research, innovation, and education should become the fifth pillar of the European Single Market, alongside the freedoms of goods, services, capital, and persons. Enrico Letta emphasized this in his recently published report, which is based on 400 meetings in 65 cities since September 2023.
• SMEs Focus: Letta highlighted the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), noting that many may consider moving to the US if Europe doesn't provide a supportive environment.
• Advice to the Commission: Othmar Karas advised the next European Commission to focus on the Green Deal, the single market, and European competitiveness as key elements of its new working program.

For more insight, listen to the recording below.

The event was organized in cooperation with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Vienna.

About 120 people joined us on April 23 for the event in cooperation with the European Parliament.

It was a fantastic evening with heated debate between our panelists, especially on the subject of influence peddling in Austria and what the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) can actually do about it.

We had an interesting discussion with:
- Member of the Austrian Parliament, Helmut Brandstätter
- HEUTE managing director and publisher, Eva Dichand
- Legal expert, Nikolaus Forgó
- Die Presse journalist, Anna Wallner (moderator)

EU measures for resilient and sustainable supply chains.

The pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine have made Europe aware of its dependencies in sensitive areas such as medical products, semiconductors and energy. How can we reduce these dependencies and make our supply chains more resilient and sustainable at the same time? Is the postponed EU supply chain law an adequate means of achieving this goal or does it jeopardize the competitiveness of European companies?

On March 18, we hosted the event where we discussed all of these topics and more with our speakers:

- Andreas Schieder, Member of the European Parliament
- Antonella Mei-Pochtler, international consultant, investor, member of various supervisory boards and board member of the European Forum Alpbach
- Peter Klimek, Director of the Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria (ACSII)
- Andreas Schnauder (moderator), editor-in-chief of Der Pragmaticus

The event was organized in cooperation with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Vienna.

EU-Reformen und EU-Erweiterung im Schatten des Wahljahres 2024.

On January 30th, we found ourselves at a crossroads with the current election year of the European Union. The upcoming reforms and the EU enlargement require unified action and will be directly influenced by the voting decisions of EU citizens in 2024. Can the necessary majorities be found in the European Parliament in the future?

We discussed the EU's long-term capacity for action and innovation at the European House in Berlin. Together with the European Parliament Representation in the German capital, EFA organized this debate. Participants engaged in an innovative chat format with:

- Dr. Anna Lührmann, Minister of State for Europe and Climate
- Dr. Thu Nguyen, Deputy Director of the Jacques Delors Centre
- Jim Cloos, TEPSA Secretary General

The discussion was moderated by POLITICO Europe's chief correspondent in Berlin, Matthew Karnitschnig.

On January 23rd, we explored the shared goals of agriculture, reforestation, and biodiversity in the face of the climate crisis. How can reforestation and biodiversity support agriculture? And how do we reconcile seemingly competing needs, such as reforestation with food security?

These and other questions were discussed in an interactive panel discussion, where participants - in the spirit of the Alpbach tradition - engaged with the following guests:

- Alexander Bernhuber, Member of the European Parliament EVP/ÖVP
- Franz Essl, Member of the Austrian Biodiversity Council Leadership Team
- Lena Schilling, Climate activist, Austria's Green Lead candidate for the European Parliament elections
- Nadja Hahn, Journalist at ORF Radio, in the role of moderator.

The event was held in collaboration with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Vienna.