Oostenrijkse kanselier Schüssel evalueert conferentie "Sound of Europe" (en)

Council President and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel said today at the closing press conference at the conference "The Sound of Europe": "We have enjoyed these days. One needs food for thought now and again, useful aphorisms. The discussions here have initiated a broad debate. There were no shortcuts, no bypass, instead we identified possible solutions."

The different backgrounds of the speakers and the participants were a guarantee of fruitful and important ideas, he continued, pointing out that, among others, four heads of government, the president of the European Parliament, the president of the Finnish Parliament as well as many philosophers and artists had taken part in the debates at the conference "The Sound of Europe".

"One thing is clear: we must get out of the therapy phase. We are strong and can do it. Commission President Barroso i and I are champions of the social market economy combined with a strong environmental dimension and the principle of justice. We Europeans will not let go of these values and objectives", Schüssel said.

It was also high time in Europe, however, to be curious about each other and to get to know each other. "You can only love what you know", the Chancellor said. A European news channel and European newspapers could help in this. It was also important to invest more in a common cultural and scientific future. This would help to bring Europe closer to its citizens.

"We have identified people's problems and concerns, now we must tackle them", Schüssel said. "To do that, it is important not just to meet in our own narrow circles. I want to break open the segmentation of society.  We were able to do that at the conference. We can only change things together. Let's not forget that, when just one member of an orchestra plays out of tune, the whole orchestra is booed."  Other issues that came up at the conference included the lack of common symbols and images. It would also be conceivable to revive the coffeehouse culture that played such an important part in European history. "An interesting idea would be to start up a 'Café d'Europe': politicians, artists and intellectuals debating with the public in coffeehouses all over Europe", the Chancellor said.