Austria’s Europe Minister Karoline Edtstadler is currently on a working visit to the Swedish capital Stockholm, where she met her counterpart Jessika Roswall on Tuesday. Sweden takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 January 2023.

“There are therefore many things to discuss, such as the work program of the Swedish Presidency,” explained Edtstadler, “and among them, for Austria, are issues such as the fight against illegal migration and climate change, as well as measures for greater competitiveness in Europe.”

At the meeting, Edtstadler repeated Austria’s refusal to the Schengen expansion: “We cannot vote for the expansion of the Schengen area, because this is also about the issue of the security of the European citizens.”

The European minister stressed that the Schengen area “doesn’t work”. In fact, 75 percent of asylum seekers who came to Austria had not been registered before, even though this was against European law. But she said she was happy that there was now “some movement in the debate” and that, for example, the European Commission presented an action plan on the Balkan route, which Austria welcomed. “We are in favor of keeping the issue under discussion,” the minister said. At the EU level, she said, there has “rarely been such high attention” to the migration issue as it is now.

“With Sweden taking over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, a state that has a lot of experience when it comes to high numbers of migrants. Therefore, I am very sure that Sweden will do everything possible during the presidency to push for forward-looking solutions,” Edtstadler stressed.

While the president has to be an honest broker, she said, “when you’ve experienced these things in your own country,” you make a special effort to find solutions for your people.

Edtstadler will also visit the Migration Agency’s headquarters and a deportation center in the northern Baltic metropolis during his stay in Stockholm.

For Austria, after all, the issues in European politics turn out to be more conservative and the migration debate has once again become the most important issue for Austria.

Meeting with Nobel laureate Zeilinger

Minister Karoline Edtstadler met this year’s Nobel laureate in physics, Anton Zeilinger, at Stockholm airport. As Vindobona.org reported, physicist Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna received the Nobel Prize in October.

“The Nobel Prize in Physics is a strong proof of Europe as a center of science and a well-deserved recognition of Anton Zeilinger’s impressive life’s work. I wholeheartedly congratulate him on this award. Austria is proud to have such scientists,” the minister emphasized.

Edtstadler then visited the headquarters of the telecom group Ericsson. There, in her role as a member of the “Internet Governance Forum” launched by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, she held talks on the global regulation of the Internet, which It was reported by Vindobona.org. “Ericsson is a global leader in communications technology. The company is focusing on the rollout of 5G. Everything from driverless cars to weather balloons will rely on 5G to function,” said the Europe minister.

Late on Monday afternoon, she also visited a light installation by Austrian artist Eva Beierhammer to mark the “Light of Nobel Week” in central Stockholm.

Chancellor of Austria