Mr. Brandstatter, welcome to the European Parliament. What brought you to Brussels and what are your personal goals?
I was living in Brussels in 1981 and was one of the first Austrians who had the chance to be an intern at the European Commission. We would talk sometimes – French, Germans, Austrians, Italians – what our fathers did: and they were probably shooting each other in wars. For us, it was very important to have a chance to build a new kind of Europe – where wars would be a thing of the past.
Now the ghosts from the past are back: we have war on European soil with the Russian aggression of Ukraine. We have to help Ukraine in any way we can. If we start again having wars and moving borders, what’s next? I think Europe needs to be stronger, we need a defence union and one of my tasks in the Foreign Affairs Committee, together with all my colleagues is to find ways in which we can stop Putin.
For me, the European Union is really a very emotional thing and it’s our job to secure this free Europe for my children and our children; for the next generations, and that’s why I’m here.
So, how can Austria as part of the EU help Ukraine? The war has been ongoing for more than two and a half years already…
I was the chairman of the Austrian-Ukrainian Friendship Group of the Austrian Parliament when the war started and I was convinced Austria has to help Ukraine as much as we can, even as a neutral country. I’ve been there four times already and my impression is: the destruction is massive. Schools, kindergartens, energy infrastructure, etc.
The spirit of the Ukrainian people is absolutely commendable, they say we don’t want to live as Putin’s slaves. They know what it means to live in a dictatorship like the Soviet Union. The Ukrainians want their freedom, and we have to help them do it.
It is obvious that the war put the issue of enlargement back on the table. What are the main drivers and obstacles towards full membership?
If you’ve picked up a telephone book in Vienna and look at the names, you’d see a lot of them are from the Balkans, Czech and Slovakia. Because of Austria’s history and geographical proximity, there is a big diaspora from Southeast Europe countries. Austrian companies are very large investors in the Balkans. But also the Chinese are present there. What do they do? They give them money to build a road since they have the cash, and if they can’t pay back the Chinese get the road. The European Union doesn’t do that.
During the COVID-19 crisis, I saw the Chinese come in with masks and medicine to Serbia and Vucic, the President of Serbia, was praising them for helping. I called Commissioner Johannes Hahn and said, why don’t we help? And he said the EU paid for the planes that transported the masks and medicine.
We are not good enough at doing PR. We have to say to our friends in the Balkans very clearly: The rule of law is priority number 1, 2 and 3. The first thing we talk about is the rule of law and the last thing we talk about is the rule of law. They have to tackle corruption; they have to build a modern system; there has to be media freedom. That’s how you become a member of the EU.
The question of migration and refugees has been a hot topic in Europe for years. What is your stance on that?
I’m always for human rights and the right to asylum, something which is very important, especially after the Holocaust and World War Two. I think we did make a mistake as a Western society, and we have to say that very clearly.
I always say we should not feel superior, but we should say that a system where every person has the same rights is the superior system. We also didn’t explain our basic rules: it’s the state that decides over religion and not the religion over the state. Most of them accepted this but some did not. There were terrible crime incidents in Germany, Austria and in other countries, and especially when it’s a so-called religious crime, Islamic terrorism that we have to fight, but not to fight the people.
As a journalist yourself, what’s your perspective on media freedom in the EU and the freedom of expression?
Freedom of media is so important. More education is needed, especially for young people to understand and to always have the question, is this true? Is it right? They have to always be critical of media and the media has to accept that people will be critical towards them. This leads us to the question of digital platforms.
What is the responsibility of these platforms and their leadership? You know, as an editor-in-chief of a newspaper, when I’d write false information about someone, I would get sued and the newspaper would pay a fine, and probably I would lose my job. You can write on X whatever you want and there is no repercussion.
We must be strong on this issue as a European Union, but not be against freedom of expression. However, there are certain laws and regulations that social media platforms have to abide by.
Some can say censorship, but it’s not. If you do misinformation or spread lies, you will be sued if it’s published in a newspaper. But on the social media platforms, you can write whatever you want without repercussion. Is that fair?
You mentioned third countries such as China and Russia. How would you assess the EU’s position on the global stage?
In general, I think Europe is stronger than we believe. For example, what Viktor Orban does is not okay – you can’t go to Putin and to Xi Jinping and say I will do peace in Ukraine. Because you cannot do it.
My party and I, think that we need we need a stronger Commission, a directly voted President of the Commission. We need a stronger Parliament with initiative rights and of course, we need one foreign policy. Look at what happened last year after October 7th – the EU countries didn’t have a unified position in the United Nations. I believe that Kaja Kallas is a very strong woman and a committed politician, and she is my hope that can bring the EU to speak with one voice.
Interview conducted by Avital Grinberg.
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EU Watch interviewed Austrian politician Helmut Brandstätter, who serves for the first time as a Member of the European Parliament. We discussed the issues of Ukraine’s support, EU enlargement, migration and media freedom.
