
"Moment of Truth"
The AIES joined the European Forum Alpbach 2024
Aug 22, 2024 / Alpbach / EU Affairs
From the 22nd until the 30th of August 2024, the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) was represented at the European Forum Alpbach 2024 (EFA24) by Director Michael Zinkanell, Research Fellows Christoph Schwarz and Nick Nieschalke and Research Associate Adam Urosevic.
In addition to stimulating debates and diverse exchanges about the Moment of Truth, this year's motto of the EFA24, the AIES team also contributed to the forum with its own inputs, presentations, and moderations.
To kick things off, Michael Zinkanell moderated two hikes in which participants were able to exchange views on current security policy issues. As part of the first hike titled “Risky business: Europe's Economic (In)security”, Sabine Herlitschka and Svenja Hahn, among others, presented their positions on Europe's critical dependencies.
During the second hike, experts including the UK ambassador to Austria, Lindsay Skoll, and AIES Senior Advisor Franz-Stefan Gady shared their views on the "War in Ukraine: Current Developments and Scenarios for the Future”.
In the panel "European defense: Investing more, better and European“, he also led a lively discussion on the current state and potentials of the European defense industry.
Another highlight was the presentation of the China Dashboard during a networking session organized by the AIES. Adam Urosevic presented how the dashboard works and showed how it can be used to search and analyze data from more than 20 years of Chinese Foreign Ministry press conferences. Nick Nieschalke used the example of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine to show how the Chinese Foreign Ministry commented on it and how its position and rhetoric developed over the course of the war.
In addition, Christoph Schwarz not only spoke about Austrian neutrality at another networking session organized by the AIES, but also discussed Austria's role in the European security order together with high-ranking experts - including Anna Maria Corraza Bildt, Thomas Mayr-Harting, Eamon Gilmore and Stefanie Fenkart - at the panel discussion “Let Others Wage War For you, Thou, Happy Austria, Stay Neutral?”. Christoph Schwarz futhermore appeared in an interview for Austrian news broadcast Die Zeit im Bild 2 on an initial assesment of the new Austrian Security Strategy.
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