The Austrian chancellor has commented on EU’s relations with the US and Russia, as well as the crises in Syria and Ukraine.
The US has become “more and more unreliable for us,” the Austrian chancellor said in an interview the Financial Times. “The most important thing is that Europe has to remain united,” he added.
In addition to this, the chancellor has also called for a reduction of tensions between Moscow and Washington on numerous occasions, stressing the country’s readiness to act as a mediator between Russia and the West. He has also repeatedly stressed that Vienna traditionally enjoyed a good relationship with Russia and called for the resumption of dialogue.
“We won’t be able to solve the crisis in Ukraine alone… Syria, we will only be successful if we find a way to act united with the US and Russia, so I think it’s not negative for the EU if countries like Austria — which has always been a bridge-builder — has… a good relationship with Russia,” Kurz stated.
The politician also defended the harsh migration policy of the Hungarian government, which was criticized by many European countries and institutions.
“Two years later many countries had to change their positions, and if they were honest they would say that their position in 2015 and 2016 was wrong and made the crisis not smaller but bigger,” he underlined.
In February, Kurz paid a visit to Moscow, during which he held negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin and Kurz discussed international and regional issues in the context of Austria’s terminated chairmanship in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the forthcoming presidency in the Council of the European Union.