On 25 February, ELI President Christiane Wendehorst and ELI Secretary General Vanessa Wilcox met representatives of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) Ministers Plenipotentiary Yvonne Toncic-Sorinj, Gerhard Eisl and Martin Meisel. Additionally, representatives of the Federal Chancellery’s Head of Institutional Affairs of the European Union Regina Kothmayr and her departmental colleagues Tanja Schmidt-Konecny and Bernhard Neufingerl were also present. Noting the exciting prospects at the start of a new institutional cycle in both Austria and at the European Commission, participants discussed potential avenues of cooperation and ways of strengthening connections between Vienna and Brussels.

Of special interest to the BMEIA were ELI’s three ‘umbrellas’ for prospective projects, namely Rule of Law, the Digital Age, and Sustainable Life and Society. Interest was also expressed among other things in respect of the ELI project on the Detention of Migrants, a topic of great importance given current discussions on constitutional issues in Austria.

Minister Plenipotentiary Toncic-Sorinj welcomed the insight into the valuable work of ELI and praised her fruitful exchange with President Wendehorst on current questions of European legal development.  BMEIA also noted 2021 will see ELI turn ten and suggested the sides join forces to celebrate a decade of the Institute’s work in Vienna.