Ahead of his official term ending on July 8, Austrian President Heinz Fischer in an interview to Greek media, praised Greece and expressed his concerns for the European project.
‘’Greece as the cradle of democracy and theoretical sciences is always very important and attractive, I was very interested in Greece since I was a pupil. I studied Ancient Greek in school and Iliad and Odyssey was our guidelines in the class,’’ said Fischer.
The Austrian president said he was pleased over the good impression created in Greece on Austria’s stance regarding the economic crisis in Greece and noted that “Greece is considered a devoted member of EU and eurozone and for this reason Austria supported EU’s policy and has accepted to bear part of the burden. I believe that Greece has overcome the difficult part, the climate in Europe for Greece is more friendly now and I wish this procedure to continue and that there will be patience and wisdom that will offer Greece the opportunity to stand on its own feet,” he said.
In reference to the refugee crisis the Austrian president noted the compassionate stance of Greece to the humanitarian crisis and also to the difficulty facing European countries and in particular Greece when the borders from other countries were shut, stranding thousands of them on its borders.
“The problem is huge and very difficult and there is no easy solution. Those who say it is easy do not stand on solid ground. The number of asylum applications in Austria has reached 88,000 in 2015 and this demanded huge efforts, which attracted the public opinion and paved the way to populist and nationalistic forces.
Austria together with Germany tried to make possible the crossing of refugees and to accept asylum applications adding that the German government made an agreement with Turkey as a solution to the problem.
As for the European project, Fischer said he expected the continent to face many more challenges in the next 20 years that those previously faced.
“The Europe of the future will have a plethora of difficult missions, there will be different growth rates and things will be totally different than those we used to have in the past. National tensions and the pressure from areas outside Europe will probably increase. There are places in Europe, as the British referendum proved, that an anti-European climate is being cultivated but on the other hand I estimate that there is no alternative for the European social model, no other way.”
“Despite the turbulences, I believe that EU will endure and meet the challenges and we will be able to maintain the course of a democratic a pluralistic society that will focus on cooperation,” he said.
