Brussels, 03/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - To launch a wide public debate on the meaning and role of Europe, Austrian Chancellor, Wolfgang Schüssel, President of the European Council, has invited personalities from the political, artistic and scientific worlds to a conference, The Sound of Europe, in Salzburg on 27 and 28 January, which will consider the causes of the current European crisis, the role of the EU and what it means to be European. During the European Council of 15-16 June, the Austrian Presidency will have to give an assessment of the period of reflection after the European Constitution ratification process stalled. This is Mozart Year, and the town where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 has been chosen to host the conference, which extends the Dutch Presidency's 2004 initiative of a series of debates on the topic, Europe - a beautiful idea?
The European Commission will be represented at Salzburg by its President, José Manuel Barroso, and Vice-President, Margot Wallström, who is responsible for institutional relations and the communication strategy. The conference will be opened by Chancellor Schüssel and will then break into three panels on the following topics: - The European Crisis - a sad sound?; - What next? A new sound?; - Muses and Sirens. The conference, during which Riccardo Muti will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, will be followed by a debate on Conducting Europe and a press conference with Mr Schüssel and Mr Barroso, and will close with a public debate on Europe: our expectations, our objectives.
It may be recalled that, during its first Presidency of the EU, Austria convened an informal summit at Pörtschach on 24 and 25 October 1998 to discuss the democratic legitimacy of European integration, efficiency and subsidiarity, which was widened to include other topics (see EUROPE 7330). Chancellor Viktor Klima, the then leader of a large coalition in which Wolfgang Schüssel was the Minister for Foreign Affairs, called on Dutch Prime Minister, Wim Kok, to speak on the role of the EU as an economic and monetary area of stability, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair to deal with the reinforcement of EU foreign and security policies, Spanish Prime Minister, José Maria Aznar, to talk about the EU as an area of security, justice and freedom, and President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, to explain the European social model.
At the time, this meeting was hailed by Chancellor Klima as a meeting of vision, reflection, ideas and impetus for the future. Chancellor Klima spoke of “the Pörtschach spirit” and of the need to remain closer to European citizens and, therefore, to prioritise the policies that touch them most, such as employment and internal and external security. He also stressed the need for a CFSP Planning Unit and for a “CFSP czar” (which has been achieved), while Wolfgang Schüssel proposed that every year there should be “public debate on a major European topic”, and the then President of the European Parliament, José Maria Gil-Robles, suggested setting up a form of direct European taxation “based on people's income, regardless of their nationality”.