TURNING POINT FOR EUROPE

Helfried Carl in conversation with Martin Selmayr

TURNING POINT FOR EUROPE

The European Union is a key player in the multiple crises of recent years. At the same time, it is changing rapidly without its treaty foundations being adapted because there is concern that the member states will not be able to reach agreement on this.

During the pandemic, vaccine purchasing was organised centrally, although the EU has hardly any competences in the health sector.
The European Peace Facility, which was naturally not explicitly intended for this purpose when it was created in 2021, is being used to provide military support to Ukraine against the Russian aggressor.
With the Conference on the Future of the European Union, the EU has launched a citizens' dialogue, the results of which can be implemented to a large extent, but not completely, within the current treaties.
At the same time, reality shows that the EU is becoming increasingly important in solving the key issues of the future, despite government policies that are not always EU-friendly everywhere, especially in Austria.

How long can the EU continue without treaty adjustments without reaching the limits of what is feasible? And how could a serious discourse on the necessary changes find its way into the 2024 European Parliament elections?

Martin Selmayr has headed the European Commission Representation in Austria since November 2019. After working at the University of Passau, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the media company Bertelsmann, he joined the European Commission in 2004. Under President José Manuel Barroso, he was initially Spokesman for Telecommunications and Media and then Head of Cabinet for EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, then Vice-President of the Commission. Under President Jean-Claude Juncker, Selmayr was head of his cabinet before being appointed Secretary-General of the Commission in February 2018.

In his scarce spare time, the doctor of law teaches EU law at the universities of Saarbrücken, Passau, Vienna and Krems. Since 2022, Selmayr has also been Honorary Academic Director of the Centre for European Law at the University of Passau.

Helfried Carl, Diplomat, has been a partner of the company he co-founded in 2019. Innovation in Politics Institute in Vienna. From 2014-2019 he was Austria's ambassador to the Slovak Republic, before that, from 2008-2014, he was head of office and foreign policy advisor to National Council President Barbara Prammer.