Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President to Austria (Vienna). She and Alexander Van der BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, give their opening statement at the Europa Experience, a project that let's the visitors explore how Europeans work together to tackle the EU's most important challenges. Using cutting-edge multimedia tools, people can find out how the European Union works, how it affects their daily lives and how they can make a difference. All visits to Europa Experiences are free of charge and available in all 24 official European Union languages. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

statement

official visit

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

EU - Austria (T)

VAN DER BELLEN, Alexander (AT)

Austria

Vienna

president's agenda

Opening ceremony of the Europa Experience in Vienna: statements by Alexander Van der BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, and by Roberta METSOLA, EP President

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/70419806/1684826828533_I241454Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, Ladies and gentlemen, dear guests, dear students. I'm happy to be here in this brand-new interactive exhibition from the European Parliament. I wish we had something like that for the Austrian Parliament. Experience Europe is moving into its first home here, a member of our housewarming party today. We can proudly show what you can do here, how you can do it, everything you can learn.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, And I have to say earlier, I was impressed by the students, what they work here and what tools they use, how they can use modern means of communication. It's all an experience, after all. Actually, we all know that we experience Europe and the European Union every day. That can be the case when paying in the supermarket, we use a common currency most of them anyway.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, Students spend a semester abroad via the Erasmus program. That is as self-evident as anything. And not just students now, we can travel largely without restrictions. That wasn't always the case in Europe. We've got us. We know that we can also deal with states of emergency, such as the war unleashed by Putin in Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, And, in my memory, another very important one, we can work, live and work wherever we want as Members of the Union. A friend of mine became a professor in Duisburg, Germany at the end of the 1970s. And I remember that when I worked in Berlin, I also needed a residence permit and a work permit, and was gladly granted to me. But it was a request for the request, it could also have been rejected.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, And this friend of mine, who became a professor in Duisburg when Austrian became a German civil servant, is an interesting situation. Then one day, when he had forgotten to extend his residence permit, he received an inaccurate letter from the authority that if he did not prove his residence permit within 14 days, the deportation procedure would begin, literally driving deportation.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, If you still have that memory, then you know what individual freedom we have gained today. So, we often forget what indispensable functions Europe fulfills for us, that we also don't think of the fact that the heartbeat is what keeps us alive every day. You don't have to. There are other things you should remember. You can leave the Union and our friends in the UK have shown yes, you can do it. But, just as a reminder, during the election campaign back then, falsehoods were told. Too many people have unfortunately fallen for it.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, Today, the UK is paying a certain price for it. And of course, you can't simply undo such a step overnight. Even though my friends in the Financial Times have already made the appropriate sketches of how that would work, but that's just by the way. So, we experience Europe every day. Europe appears to be there without any action on our part, without our commitment. But it's just not like Brexit. There would be no Europe, there would be no European Union without us Europeans.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, So we need this Europe, we need the future of young people, we need, I mean, young people's ideas for the future of this Europe. We need their enthusiasm, their will, their drive to do something for this Europe. And I mean, it's not by chance that I say the young people in particular. Yes, because my time is running out, not just my time as Federal President. Irrevocable.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, I am in a pleasant situation of a politician whose re-election is impossible, but it is about the young people and this interactive exhibition that you are creating. That, I think, will be able to let this spark jump from personal sensitivity to passion, to something bigger. That you notice how this heart of Europe, this unnoticed heart of Europe, works.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, And that is important, especially now, because in one year, in exactly one year, we will have elections in the European Union. We now have one more year to raise awareness among the younger generation that it is important to get involved. That it's important to go to the polls. That politics isn't something that happens somewhere. And you have nothing to do with it, you can get involved.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, And I think you should get involved. Just as a reminder, the Brexit decision went this way because many young people did not go to the polls. It was too late then. So the date of the construction of this center. I think the location here on Red Tower Street is perfect. Isn't outside somewhere, you don't have to go there, you pass by and then you can go right in, so to speak. This is all a wonderful thing that has been achieved here.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, And I am sure that very, very many young people, but also older people, will come in and watch it out of curiosity. Grandparents can take their children on a trip there once in a while. Or maybe one or the other mother is also happy when she gives her adolescent an hour from Tik Tok.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, So all of this can be used very sensibly here. With. Yes, a lot of preparation is still being prepared, but I think opening speeches must be brief. Through the but one more sentence. I have had my own experiences with young people here in Austria. What they know about Austrian political institutions and how the separation of powers works.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, And so forth. I was sometimes really startled by how little awareness there is here about the political institutions and their interactions. And here you can only playfully experiment with the institutions of the European Union, which are in themselves much more complex than the Austrian ones. So I think we in Austria should also take a close look at what you can do here.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, Madam President, thank you for coming especially to attend the opening here. For the initiative of the whole, Nice I think it's wonderful that you're also using your visit to Vienna to talk to all sorts of other important people here. All of this together is an important sign. Austria and the European Union are an inseparable whole.

SOUNDBITE (German), Alexander VAN DER BELLEN, Federal President of Austria, The European Parliament is visiting Vienna with you and we are happy that with this Visitor Center, this commitment will remain forever, but will remain in any case for the next few decades. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (German), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Dear President Van der Bellen, dear minister Schmidauer, dear President Kovacs, dear President Sobotka, dear Vice-president Regner, Vice-president Karas, dear colleagues. Welcome to the Europa Erlebnis Austria.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, I am delighted and I could not think of a more fitting way to come towards the close of my first official visit to Vienna as President of the European Parliament. I couldn't find a better place, actually. Presidents, now that you come to think of where my four sons could spend quite a lot of time.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And I am also delighted to welcome you to this new space dedicated to all our citizens. This Europa Experience is serving as a reminder that the European Union's main purpose is to serve people. It is to serve as a place where we can listen, we can explain, and we can understand what people want from Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Because understanding Europe changes everything. Understanding Europe convinces us that our future will be stronger and brighter if we are together. And the more we understand Europe, the more we can all reap the benefits. The more we can convince. Austria and its people can look back on 28 years of commitment to European Union membership. And the support for this membership amongst Austrians remains very high.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, I would like to thank you also for aid given to Ukraine and for welcoming those fleeing the war. For sacrifices endured as we navigate through troubled geopolitical times. It is on this European path that we must continue together because it is the only path that allows us to flourish with gains for all.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Now to overcome common European challenges and if there's one thing we have learnt over the past years, is that our best bet is to provide united European answers. There is still a lot more to do, more to debate, more to achieve. There are still more common solutions to be found. There is space for an even better Europe, a Europe where we listen more, where we are convinced more, when we explain more. Europe of renewal and reform.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Said this in the Austrian parliament yesterday, the European Union is not perfect. It is continuously evolving, but the world is changing and we must change with it and that we cannot be afraid of. We must in fact, embrace change. As we keep listening, keep explaining and keep delivering.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, And this is where that a Erlebnis Europa will help to bring the European Union closer, to the Austrian citizens, especially to young people I met yesterday 300 of them. And I told them, ask me anything. And they did. Some questions were easy, ones I've answered in other countries, some questions were not easy, ones that I've not answered in other countries. But one sense was clear from the end of that meeting with them: that they were excited, inspired, hopeful about what the European Union means to them. Some of them are here, I can see them. They're back today.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, I would like to thank. All of those of you who have been instrumental not only in identifying this amazing location, but also in making the Europa Experience interactive hub come to life here in Vienna. Thank you for your collective hard work. You cannot underestimate the collegiality of everybody who came together to make this project a reality. And at the end of the day, a special place at the heart of Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Next year will be an important electoral year for Austria and for Europe too. My appeal don't miss out on the next European elections. Austria has an opportunity to make its vote count. Don't let someone else choose for you. And as the voting ages of 16 in Austria, that means that even more Austrians can speak up. That is important.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Get on the register. Get your friends registered. Become candidates. Ask questions at the end of the day. Hold us accountable. That's our responsibility. So, be part of the largest democratic voice in Europe and vote. And tell your friends to drop by, that's Europa Erlebnis if they still need convincing that Europe matters for our peace and prosperity. Thank you.