Pan-European discussion

“Showing EU bodies that there are problems”

Martin Gansterer, Paneuropa spokesperson for Tyrol, and Paneuropa Austria President Rainhard Kloucek (right)(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Brussels is not responsible for everything: The pan-European message is a popular one in Tyrol. Worlds collide when it comes to transit, wolves and the current Renaturation Act. Paneuropa Austria has clear strategies in the run-up to the EU elections. 

The Paneuropa movement regularly raises its voice for a strong Europe before elections. "Europe still faces many of the same challenges it did when the Pan-European Union was founded 102 years ago," explained President Rainhard Kloucek and Tyrol Regional Spokesperson Martin Gansterer in Innsbruck on Tuesday.

Nation states alone too weak
Global players such as the USA, China and Russia needed a strong European Union in response. "The longing for the nation state that is emerging again in many cases would not benefit Europe, nor these nation states, but non-European powers."

The EU is something that we can sell as a successful model. This is shown by the number of candidate countries.

Rainhard Kloucek, Paneuropa-Österreich-Präsident

European policy using the example of Wolf
However, strength does not lie in regulation and bureaucratization, "strength lies in a lived principle of subsidiarity, in which competences are located at the level at which sovereignty can also be developed." In Tyrol, however, interests often collide, as the examples of the wolf protection status, the transit dispute with Italy and Bavaria and the current renaturation law show.

Tyrol should not suffocate in the dirt
"Not everything has to be regulated at EU level. I am a hunter myself. Shooting plans for red deer are drawn up locally. I can imagine the same for wolves," says Kloucek. When it comes to transit, he advocates making it clear to the European bodies that there are problems: "You can't demand sustainability, but Tyrol should suffocate in the dirt."

However, Tyrol is also an industrialized country: "In a single market, it must be possible to transport things across Europe."