Final sprint at the European Forum Alpbach 2024 - last days from 27 to 30 August
Start of the “Austria in Europe Days”: For the coming three days, Alpbach is all about the Austrian perspective on Europe. On Friday the grand finale takes place – a discussion between the top candidates and representatives of the five biggest parliamentary parties that will be running in the Austrian parliamentary elections in autumn.
In the super election year 2024, the European Forum Alpbach is also marked by the annual theme “Moment of Truth”. Half of the world’s population – including Austria with the national elections in autumn – is making ground-breaking decisions for the upcoming years. In the middle of these politically challenging times, key actors from business, civil society and science are gathering in Alpbach. Here you meet numerous members of the Austrian federal government and members of parliament from all parties to discuss Austria’s role in Europe, find solutions to the greatest challenges of our time, and promote ideas for a strong Europe. More than half of the speakers are women.
The Opening of the Austria in Europe Days, looked first at one of the most pressing issues our time: how can the economy and climate policies work together? Looking at this topic on a European level, the designated EU-Commissioner and current Austrian Federal Minister of Finance Magnus Brunner argued that “before we are able to implement a Green Deal, we need a new deal for competitiveness.” Member of the European Parliament Anna Stürgkh disagreed: “We have to think economy and climate together. We need our economy to reach the climate goals.’’ The also present climate activist Luisa Neubauer problemised putting the climate discourse around economic denominators: “The GDP might be a bit outdated to assess the state of an economy. CO2 might just be as misleading: The numbers are used to tell everything by a rational story, they tell a fairy tale of a dying planet.”
In the second part of the opening the discussion turned to the topic of multilateralism and how it has and must change in the next couple of years. President of the Observer Research Foundation Samir Saran argued forcefully that now is the time where “We have to rethink the international project if we want mass participation in it.’’ While taking a more positive approach Carl Bildt, Co-Chair European Council on Foreign Relations still asserted that “Global Governance has become more difficult - but it has become significantly more necessary.’’
The European Forum Alpbach takes place until 30 August.