Yesterday evening, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg took part in his first virtual discussion with an audience of over 1,000 Austrians based in the United Kingdom.
I am absolutely delighted to be able to take part in this discussion with such a large number of Austrian expatriates,
the Foreign Minister said.
Of course, I would have preferred to meet face-to-face, but we are still going through extraordinary times, and there comes a point where you become very reluctant to postpone meetings like this any further, especially because this discussion centres on an issue that is close to my heart.
The digital meeting, which was hosted by Eric Papilaya, gave the audience the opportunity to ask the Foreign Minister as well as the Austrian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who joined the event from London, questions. Participants could submit their questions in advance or raise them during the discussion using the chat function.
Foreign Minister Schallenberg promised viewers:
None of the questions sent in will be forgotten. 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 and the Austrian embassy in London. The subjects covered ranged from the ramifications of Brexit to dual citizenship, the EU ‘Green Pass’ vaccine passport and rules for entering Austria from abroad. There was good news on the latter issue from the Foreign Minister, who announced that the current ban on passenger aircraft from the United Kingdom landing in Austria would not be extended beyond its expiration date on 21 March.
