On April 27/28, 2021, between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. Vienna time, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg took part in the second virtual live discussion with Austrian expatriates – this time from across the Atlantic. Austrians living in the U.S. were invited to participate, and more than 600 accepted the invitation.
“Of course I would have much preferred to meet in person,” Schallenberg said. “But we are still going through extraordinary times. In fact, as Foreign Minister, this is one of the few opportunities I get to remind myself how it feels to be in a different time zone,”
he added with a grin.
Participants could submit their questions to Foreign Minister Schallenberg and Austrian Ambassador Martin Weiss, who hosted the event from Washington, in advance or raise them during the event using the chat tool. Hannelore Veit, former Washington correspondent and bureau chief for the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF), chaired the discussion and did her best to ensure they got through as many of the 355 questions submitted as possible, with each taking it in turns to respond.
Foreign Minister Schallenberg promised viewers that
“None of the questions sent in have gone unread. I really want to stress that.”
All the questions that could not be answered during the digital meeting will be answered in writing after the event by the Foreign Ministry, the Austrian Embassy in Washington and the Consulates General in Los Angeles and New York.
The subjects covered ranged from Austria’s relations with the Biden administration to dual citizenship, the EU ‘Green Pass’ vaccine passport, and the current rules for entering Austria from abroad. In his concluding remarks, Foreign Minister Schallenberg stressed the value of these virtual meetings:
“This exchange with our tenth Federal State, the Austrian expatriate community, is very important to me personally. As Foreign Minister, it helps me to make sure my antennas are always pointing the right direction: towards the outside world,”
he said.
Watch the discussion with English subtitles (activate automatic translation):