This year's Europe Days 2021 had the theme “Future Europe, evolution instead of revolution” and took place as a webinar at the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein from November 19th - 20th, 2021.

The event was opened by Direktor Dr. Johann Gasteiner, ÖK Council President Franz Titschenbacher and State Councilor Christopher Drexler, supplemented by greetings from Federal Minister Elisabeth Köstinger and the President of the European Commission Dr. Ursula von der Leyen. The President referred to the Raumberg-Gumpenstein House and spoke of the major challenges of climate change and the goals that must be implemented within the framework of the European Union.

Program planning and topic selection

The students were involved in the program design process from the beginning. They wrote down questions that they asked in a conversation with Dr. Peter Kaltenegger discussed. The focus was on the common agricultural policy and the need to take into account many of the needs of the countries in the European Union.

Speakers

Simone Schmiedtbauer (Member of the European Parliament), Mag. Stefan Niedermoser (LEADER Forum Austria) and section head DI Johann es Fankhauser spoke on the topic of “Europe – Agriculture and Regions”. The focus was on priorities such as the regionality and quality of our agriculture, the orientation of the rural development program 2023-2027 and the promotion of innovation. Also in this block, Ing. Fritz Stocker from the Styrian Chamber of Agriculture presented the importance of family farms and Dr. Albin Blaschka (Managing Director of the Austrian Bear, Wolf, Lynx Center) referred to the large predators in our cultural landscape.

A touching conclusion to the first day came with the lecture by Emina Saric, MA (lecturer, education manager, project manager), who described her life journey from the war zone of the former Yugoslavia to Austria with the following words: “When a person is used to being treated as a human being , he will always act according to this basic principle”.

On Saturday, Mag. Josef Landschützen ( Managing Director, Energie Steiermarkkunden GmbH. ), Mag. Christian Kasper (BMLRT), Mag. Franz Pichler (Economic direktor of Admont Abbey) gave lectures on the topics of energy transition, plastic-free society and living sustainability. Dr. Benjamin Koetz (Head of ESA's Office for Sustainable Initiatives in Rome) highlighted the great challenge of tackling the climate crisis from space. 250 TB of data are generated per day and made available for use in research, including on the topics of sustainability and environmental protection.

In the “Europe and Economy” block, the connection between the economy and the climate crisis was established by economist Daniela Kletzan-Slamanig (Austrian Institute for Economic Research). “Today’s investments sometimes have useful lives that extend into a time when we already have to be climate neutral.” Dr. Johann Strobl (CEO of Raiffeisen Bank International) and Dr. Christian Helmenstein (chief economist of the Industrial Association), who also referred to the labor situation. “540,000 jobs will not be able to be filled in the next few years due to the aging of society.” 

“Renaissance Regionality” by Hannes Royer (Managing Director “Land Creates Life”) and the view of the eco-social market economy as a cornerstone of socio-political development in Austria and Europe in the 21st century, carried out by former Vice Chancellor Dr. Josef Riegler, rounded off the topic “Europe and Society”.

The Europe Days 2021 ended with a solemn ecumenical devotion by Brother Rudolf (Capuchin Monastery Irdning) and the Superintendent of the Evangelical Church in Styria, Mag. Wolfgang Rehner.

Outlook for 2022

After the great success again this year and the wish to hold the third European Days in November 2022 in “presence”, ÖK. Council President Franz Titschenbacher and Direktor Dr. Johann Gasteiner the event.

This year, the European Days 2021 was again moderated in the tried and tested manner by Ms. Bettina Zajac (ORF Steiermark).

The trip to Brussels – provided by the Board of Trustees and Simone Schmiedtbauer – was won by Elisa Moosbrugger and Anna Pattermann from the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein.

We would particularly like to thank the warm and positive statement from Dr. Thank Josef Riegler (retired Vice Chancellor) - please scroll down!

Dr. Peter Kaltenegger put it this way in a conversation with the students:

“Europe is a compromise, but Europe stands for democracy, peace, freedom and solidarity – and that’s worth working for!”

Lectures from our esteemed speakers to listen to

(Video sequences prepared by Matthias Kandolf, HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein)