European Parliament Liaison Office in Austria Half-Year Report 2021 Table of contents Foreword 3 The Austrian MEPs 4 Activities 6 International Women‘s Day 6 Europe Day 2021 6 Europa Club Live 7 LUX Film Prize 8 Win² 8 Youth & Schools 9 Ambassador schools of the European Parliament 9 Euroscola 10 EUrope at school 10 Media work 11 Podcasts 11 Print and online cooperation 11 Press conferences and networking events 12 Conference on the Future of Europe 12 Campaign for the release of Roman Protasevich 12 Together.eu 13 Social Media 14 The EP Liaison Office Team 15 Imprint Responsible for the content: European Parliament - Liaison Office Austria House of the European Union Wipplingerstraße 35 1010 Vienna Tel: +431516170 [email protected] www.europarl.at Photo credits: Unless otherwise stated © European Union / EP Cover picture: Front of the House of the European Union in Vienna and graphic design on the back. © Fernando Mateos Frühbeck Page 3: © Bernhard Ludewig 2 Foreword In the first half of 2021, the starting signal was gi- Even under difficult conditions during the Corona ven for the Conference on the Future of Europe on pandemic and mostly digitally, the Liaison Office 9 May, Europe Day. In this conference, new ideas was able to continue the good cooperation with are developed together with European citizens to proven partner organisations such as the Represen- make the European Union fit for the future. The Liai- tation of the European Commission, the Europe Di- son Office of the European Parliament in Austria has rect Information Networks or the Austrian Society already highlighted the importance of the Future for European Politics. Conference with numerous events on Europe Day. In the further course of the year, the Liaison Office Ever-increasing vaccination rates against the coro- will continue to focus its activities on encouraging navirus give rise to the hope that after the summer citizens to contribute their voice to the conference. break we will again be able to organise activities and events where European ideas can be exchan- All five Austrian parties represented in the Euro- ged in person. pean Parliament have representatives in the plena- ry of the conference. This broad spectrum of opini- The entire team of the EP Liaison Office would look on, which is reflected in it, was already expressed in forward to welcoming you, dear reader, soon again joint press talks or a stakeholder meeting with the in person at the House of the European Union in five MEPs shortly before and after the first plenary Vienna or at our regional events. session on 19 June. Yours sincerely, In the first six months of the year, the Liaison Office Frank Piplat further developed new video and audio formats and communicated them via social media. Videos Head of the Liaison Office were made with numerous Austrian MEPs in which they were able to present their work and activities as MEPs. I would be pleased if you, dear reader, would watch some of these videos, which can be reached by clicking on them in this report. The EP Liaison Office has made another new media appearance with a podcast series entitled ‚Zukunft Europa‘ and ‚Die Europäische Minute‘. We have pro- duced a first three-part mini-series on ‚Reform of European Agricultural Policy‘. I would be delighted if you would listen to this offering as well. 3 The Austrian MEPs The first half of 2021 was marked by the effects of the Corona pandemic. For Austrian MEPs, this me- ant continuing to hold numerous events virtually and having much of their parliamentary work take place online. Some MEPs therefore took advantage of the „Remo- te Plenary“ option and took a seat in the Liaison Of- fice in Vienna to deliver their speeches in the Euro- pean Parliament. The EP Liaison Office gave MEPs the opportunity to present themselves and their work in short videos. Just click on a picture of the MEPs on this or the next page and let the MEPs themselves tell you about their parliamentary activities. MEPs with their speech in the Remote Plenary. From left to right: Claudia Gamon (NEOS), Roman Haider (FPÖ), Angelika Win- zig (ÖVP), Lukas Mandl (ÖVP), Thomas Waitz (Grüne), Monika Vana (Grüne), Evelyn Regner (SPÖ). 4 TheDie österreichischenAustrian MEPs Europaabgeordneten 9. Wahlperiode 2019 - 2024 Alexander Claudia Gamon Roman Haider Bernhuber NEOS - Renew Europe FPÖ - ID Fraktion ÖVP - EVP Fraktion Fraktion INTA Ausschuss für internationalen Handel ENVI Ausschuss für Umweltfragen, ITRE Ausschuss für Industrie, öffentliche Gesundheit und Forschung und Energie Lebensmittelsicherheit PETI Petitionsausschuss Hannes Heide Othmar Karas Lukas Mandl SPÖ - S&D Fraktion ÖVP - EVP Fraktion ÖVP - EVP Fraktion SEDE Stv. Vorsitzender Unter- EP-Vizepräsident ausschuss f. Sicherheit & Verteidigung CULT Ausschuss für Kultur und AFET Ausschuss für auswärtige Bildung FISC stv. Vorsitzender Angelegenheiten Unterausschuss zu Steuerfragen LIBE Ausschuss für bürgerliche ECON Ausschuss für Wirtschaft Freiheiten, Justiz und Inneres INGE Sonderausschuss zu und Währung Einflussnahme aus dem Ausland Georg Mayer Evelyn Regner Christian Sagartz FPÖ - ID Fraktion SPÖ - S&D Fraktion ÖVP - EVP Fraktion ITRE Ausschuss für Industrie, FEMM Vorsitzende Ausschuss DROI stv. Vorsitzender Forschung und Energie für die Rechte der Frau und die Unterausschuss Menschen- Gleichstellung der Geschlechter rechte ECON Ausschuss für Wirtschaft DEVE Entwicklungsausschuss und Währung Andreas Schieder Simone Günther Sidl SPÖ - S&D Fraktion Schmiedtbauer SPÖ - S&D Fraktion ÖVP - EVP Fraktion AFET Ausschuss für auswärtige ENVI Ausschuss für Umweltfragen, Angelegenheiten AGRI Ausschuss für Landwirtschaft öffentliche Gesundheit und Sonderausschuss zur INGE und ländliche Entwicklung Lebensmittelsicherheit Einflussnahme aus dem Ausland Barbara Thaler Monika Vana Harald Vilimsky ÖVP - EVP Fraktion Grüne - Grüne/EFA FPÖ - ID Fraktion TRAN Ausschuss für Verkehr und REGI Ausschuss für regionale AFET Ausschuss für auswärtige Tourismus Entwicklung Angelegenheiten ANIT Untersuchungsausschuss zum Schutz von Tieren beim Transport Bettina Vollath Thomas Waitz Sarah Wiener SPÖ - S&D Fraktion Grüne - Grüne/ EFA Grüne - Grüne/EFA AFET Ausschuss für LIBE Ausschuss für bürgerliche auswärtige Angelegenheiten AGRI Ausschuss für Landwirtschaft Freiheiten, Justiz und Inneres PETI Petitionsausschuss und ländliche Entwicklung ANIT Untersuchungsausschuss zum Schutz von Tieren beim Transport Die Abgeordneten Stand April 2021 stellen sich vor: Angelika Winzig Kontaktdaten unter www.europarl.at ÖVP - EVP Fraktion Europäisches Parlament BUDG Haushaltsausschuss Verbindungsbüro in Österreich CONT Haushaltskontrollausschuss Haus der Europäischen Union Tel: +43/ (0)1/ 516 17-0 E-Mail: [email protected] Wipplingerstraße 35 1010 Wien www.europarl.at 5 Activities In the first half of 2021, the Liaison Office organised a series of events on different topics, e.g. on the le- gislative work of the EP or on the values of the Euro- pean Union. The online offer was received with inte- rest, as shown by the large number of participants. International Women‘s Day On the occasion of International Women‘s Day on 8 March, the Liaison Office organised a webinar in cooperation with the Austrian Women‘s Ring as an assessment of the current situation on the way to gender equality. Participants were MEPs Evelyn Regner (SPÖ), Chair of the Committee on Women‘s Europe Day 2021 Rights and Gender Equality, Monika Vana (Grüne) and Angelika Winzig (ÖVP), former Minister for Wo- Sunday, 9 May 2021 was a very special Europe Day. men‘s Affairs and founder of the Alpha Club Maria On this day, the 100th birthday of the resistance Rauch-Kallat, economist Katharina Mader and influ- fighter Sophie Scholl was commemorated. It also encer Vivien Belschner. The event was characterised marked the start of the conference on the future by exciting contributions from the individual spea- of Europe. The EP Liaison Office in Austria, together kers and intensive discussions on topics such as with numerous together.eu activists, participated in women in leadership positions, gender budgeting the Europe Day celebrations at the Museumsquar- and the consequences of digitalisation on gender tier in Vienna with Vienna goes Europe as well as in equality. the commemoration ceremony for Sophie Scholl at the Memorial to the Victims of Nazi Military Justice in Vienna with Pulse of Europe. In cooperation with the EP liaison office in Munich, virtual leaflets based on those of the White Rose were distributed. Commemoration of Sophie Scholl 6 Activities The opening event of the Conference on the Futu- re of Europe was broadcast live on all social media channels of the Liaison Office. In the evening, the Music Europe Day invited to a musical finale organi- zed by the Liaison Office Paris. In addition, there was intensive cooperation with the Viennese city broad- caster OKTO around Europe Day. Programmes were produced for the conference on the future of Euro- pe and for the campaign gemeinsamfür.eu. On 9 May itself, the station broadcast a special program- me on Europe Day, in which the Vice-President of the European Parliament Othmar Karas (ÖVP) and the two MEPs Andreas Schieder (SPÖ) and Monika President David Sassoli at the opening ceremony of the Vana (Grüne) gave detailed interviews on the future Conference on the Future of Europe in Strasbourg. of Europe. Europa Club Live The run-up to 9 May was also marked by exciting debates in the „Europa Club Live“. The discussion format of the Austrian Society for European Politics (ÖGfE) is regularly streamed live online in coopera- tion with the EP Liaison Office in Austria. Two days before Europe Day, MEPs Angelika Winzig (ÖVP), An- dreas Schieder (SPÖ), Roman Haider (FPÖ), Monika Vana (Grüne) and Claudia Gamon (NEOS) held lively discussions on the future of the continent. Previous events of the Austrian Society for European Politics Vice-President Othmar Karas (ÖVP) in an interview with OKTO. in spring 2021 were dedicated to topics such as di- gitalisation, reconstruction after the pandemic or the view of the EU from outside.