Remarks by President Charles Michel after his meeting with the Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz in Vienna
“My first words are of course for the victims of this act of terrorism, and for their families.
My presence here is first and foremost a demonstration of friendship, to express Europe’s affection for the people of Austria. And to express my support and appreciation for Sebastian Kurz and the way in which the Austrian authorities have attempted to manage an extremely difficult situation.
A terrorist act is one that aims to destroy lives, to undermine our societies – but also one that aims to subvert the fundamental values that underpin the European project. These values of democracy, these values of freedom, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, which are the cornerstones of this European project. It is those principles that allow us to live together in mutual respect.
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When I was informed of the attack here in Vienna, I thought back to my own experience as prime minister a few years ago, when my country, too, was hit by terrorist attacks.
I am well aware of how emotional this is for the population, how painful for the victims, and of the responsibility and composure that the authorities must demonstrate in order to try to keep control of the situation, and to look towards the future too, with the determination to curb this terrorist threat.
I am glad to have had the chance once again to have a very direct discussion with Sebastian regarding a number of concrete ideas about how to try and make progress at European level. I will give some examples of the areas in which, in my opinion, we must try to take action in order to improve our capacity to curb this terrorist threat.
Without doubt, we need to ensure a smooth, ongoing exchange of information between our intelligence and security services, to attempt, as far as possible, to prevent these acts.
Without doubt, we must also endeavour to be capable of removing terrorist content as quickly as possible when it appears on internet platforms. This is a task that is being carried out in collaboration with the European Parliament. I hope that we will be able to make progress in this area too.
The third issue that I would like to mention – and I agree with what Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on this matter – is the importance of countering the extremist ideologies, the violent extremism, the messages of hate and the messages of rejection that fuel this terrorist activity. It is very important to be firm about this.
I think, for example, that discussions should be held at European level about the idea that was raised some time ago of creating a European institute for the training of imams. To ensure that this message of tolerance and openness can be conveyed at European level, and that imams too can be trained in a way that takes this type of approach into consideration.
We must also be ready to take action regarding funding. When foreign funding is supporting organisations that are committed to stirring up hatred, rejection and violent extremism, it seems to me that that we need to roll up our sleeves and take effective, optimal measures to try to do something about it.
Here are some of the things I wanted to share with you. First, a feeling of great sadness, for the innocent people gripped by a sense of injustice, a sense of cowardice. These are families that will remain forever changed by what has happened here in Austria.
The determination of European leaders to pull together, sleeves rolled up, shoulder to shoulder. This, as Sebastian Kurz has said, is the purpose of the virtual meeting that will be held tomorrow with a number of EU leaders. This is the purpose of the EU interior ministers’ meeting that will be held on Friday, to assess how we can provide additional impetus.
A videoconference with all the Heads of State or Government will also be held on 19 November. This meeting will focus primarily on COVID-19, as planned, but we will also provide impetus in this area, and we will return to it regularly in EU discussions to attempt to move forward, and to do so from a European perspective. Because we consider this terrorist threat to be a very fundamental threat, a very grave and very serious threat to the values that underpin this European project. These are values that we hold dear, and we have no intention of showing weakness or being lax. On the contrary, when it is these core values of the European project that are at stake, we believe we must stand firm.
I am grateful to have had this opportunity for a discussion with Sebastian. It was important for Europe to express its affection, its friendship and its support in the wake of this terrible attack on innocent victims. ”
Council of the European Union