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Mar 13: Foreign Minister on the missing Austrians and topics of the EU Summit |
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Plassnik: "Trying just as hard as if they were our relatives"
 Vienna, 13 March 2008 - "We in the Federal Government are trying just as hard as if they were our own relatives", said Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik today about the efforts to find the two Austrians from Salzburg missing in Tunisia, Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber, and the Upper Austrian Bert Nussbaumer abducted in Iraq. Plassnik pointed out to the work being done around the clock by a crisis team made up of experts from the Foreign, Interior, and Defence Ministries. The Foreign Minister then addressed an urgent appeal to the media: "I ask you to do your work with seriousness and without sensationalism in the interest of those missing and their families."
Plassnik then referred to the European Council scheduled to begin this evening in Brussels, speaking of the "beginning phase of implementation of ambitious EU climate targets". Plassnik: "The European Union must remain the market leader in forward-thinking climate and energy policies. The objective now is to put together the building blocks of a solid architecture for climate protection after 2012." The Foreign Minister referred to the policy paper on the security policy aspects of climate change prepared by Javier Solana and Benita Ferrero-Waldner for the European Commission. Plassnik: "This is a paper on promoting awareness. It deals with various regional changes that have an impact on the people’s life resources. One of the consequences may be stronger migration pressure on us."
On the issue of a Mediterranean Union, Plassnik said that the German-French Non-Paper is leading the discussion „in the right direction“. The Foreign Minister said that "the Barcelona Process remains the key element in our Mediterranean partnership. There can only be a Mediterranean policy from all 27 members of the European Community. However, I do not expect this European Council to produce any decisions on this topic yet."
Contact:
Federal Ministry for European
and International Affairs
Press Department
Tel.: ++43 (0) 50 1150-3262, 4549, 4550
Fax: ++43 (0) 50 1159-213
abti3(at)bmeia.gv.at
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