Opening Speech: Europe in the World Days
Othmar Karas, President of the EFA, opens the Europe in the World Days with a call for European unity in times of global crisis. In his speech, he highlights the strength of shared values, the responsibility to uphold democracy and the rule of law, and the need for Europe’s voice to be heard clearly and decisively on the world stage.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
distinguished guests, excellencies, dear friends of Alpbach,
and especially:
Honourable Foreign Ministers of Austria, Romania, and the Czech Republic,
I am grateful that you are with us today.
Your presence is a reminder that Europe’s strength is cooperation in practice.
This is my first opening of the Europe in the World Days as
President of the European Forum Alpbach.
I feel the honour – and I feel the duty.
We meet at a time when many certainties are no longer certain:
a brutal war against Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East,
and rising geopolitical and economic tensions.
People feel that history has become heavier again —
and they ask, with reason: where is Europe in all this?
I want to start with a simple fact: Europe is not small.
Our Union is home to more than 450 million citizens.
Our market is one of the largest in the world.
Our science, our culture, our industry, our values — they matter.
Yet too often, the world does not hear our voice with the strength it deserves.
Too often, we do not hear it ourselves.
That is what I want to give you as today’s „take away“:
we will be taken seriously when we take ourselves seriously.
When we act as a Union, not as a collection of hesitations.
When we match our size with our will, and our words with results.
In recent years we learned, sometimes the hard way,
that there is no way back to yesterday.
War, pandemic, price pressures and climate urgency
have changed the world around us.
People feel it. They are less patient with speeches and more demanding of
delivery. They want leaders who are calm in crisis, honest about trade-offs, and
clear about direction.
They want Europe to be present when decisions are made —
not only informed afterwards.
Only days ago, the world watched the summit between President Trump and
President Putin about Ukraine. The European Union was not at the table;
Europe was briefed afterwards.
That cannot be our role. We must be part of the decisions that shape our continent.
If we expect to be heard, we must stand behind our European representatives
and stop whispering in 27 different directions.
Europe is not ignored because it is weak by nature.
Europe is often ignored when it chooses to be small — when we fragment our
market, delay what we decided together, or let vetoes win over common sense.
The gap is not in our potential; the gap is between agreement and action.
To close that gap, we must do a few things — not new things, but necessary things.
We learned this with vaccines, with energy, with sanctions, with support to Ukraine.
Every time we moved together, we mattered.
Every time we moved apart, we paid for it.
We must protect what makes us credible:
our democracy, the rule of law, human dignity,
the dignity of facts, respect for minorities and free media.
These are not accessories. They are security assets.
Partners trust us because of them. Our own citizens trust us because of them.
Some will say that the world will move on without us anyway —
that others will cut deals over other people’s heads,
that force will speak louder than law,
that the age of rules is over.
I do not accept that.
Law without power is naïve.
Power without law is dangerous.
Europe’s mission is to unite the two.
This brings me to Alpbach.
Alpbach is different. It is not a stage for shouting.
It is a place for listening, for thinking, for speaking with respect.
And for bringing people, disciplines and interests together.
Here, we take time for the questions that do not fit into a news cycle.
That may be against the current zeitgeist of hurry and outrage.
But leadership, real leadership, means making time for what truly matters.
So, in these Europe in the World Days,
I ask that we use the European Forum Alpbach for what it does best:
to ask the difficult questions — and to ask them together.
- Are we ready to speak with one voice when it counts, not only when it is easy?
- Are we ready to turn common decisions into common delivery?
- Are we ready to explain to our citizens not only what we want,
but what it takes — the choices, costs, and benefits?
As Jean-Claude Juncker once put it:
“We all know what to do;
we just don’t know how to get re-elected after we’ve done it.”
Honesty demands we learn how —
because not doing the right thing is no longer an option.
- If our answer to these questions is yes, Europe will be heard.
- If our answer is yes, our partners will see Europe not as a commentator,
but as a reliable partner at the table. - And our young people will look to Europe not as a promise delayed,
but as a future they can build.
Let me say again what I hope you will take from this opening:
Europe will be taken seriously when it takes itself seriously —
in its words, in its will, and in its work.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
we will not solve everything in these days.
But we can do something more important:
we can set a direction and commit to it.
We can bring honesty to our debates and courage to our choices.
We can make Europe’s size visible again — not only in numbers, but in purpose.
Thank you for your trust.
Thank you for your commitment for a strong and united Europe.
And thank you for giving us, what the world rarely gives us:
your time — time to think deeply, to decide wisely, and to act together.
Let‘s start here in Alpbach.
Thank you very much.