Juan David Latorre
“Our neutrality has a purely military nature, because neutrality does not mean staying out (of a conflict) politically,” said the Austrian ambassador, Enno Drofenik, during the reception he hosted at his official residence to commemorate the National Day of the Central European country.
The ambassador explained that permanent neutrality was the price of “the recovery of our independence after World War II”, but also what made Austria “a rich country and a reliable partner of the EU in Central Europe”.
However, he denied that this also means political neutrality. “We have a very clear position against Russia’s terrible war of aggression against Ukraine and we also condemn Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel,” he said. “Austria,” he continued, “stands for a world subject to international rules, the rule of law and does not accept the law of the jungle.”
On the bilateral level, after recalling that Austria and Spain share 200 years of dynastic history, he stressed that both countries “have very good friendly relations and we understand each other very well as reliable partners in the EU.”
Bilateral economic relations, according to Drofenik, are also going through a good moment, “since our trade and tourism maintain a very high level” and, in the field of renewable energies, he emphasized that “Austrian companies are the largest foreign investors in Spain”.
The reception was attended by, among other personalities, the former president of Congress Meritxell Batet; the former president of the Senate Ander Gil; the former president of the Madrid Assembly Eugenia Carballedo; the general secretary of Science and Research, Raquel Yotti, the introducer of ambassadors, María Sebastián de Erice; the general director of Western, Central and Southeastern Europe, Raquel Gómez-Cambronero; and numerous foreign ambassadors accredited in Spain.
The Ukrainian pianist Vadin Klarkov played the national anthems of Austria and Spain and the anthem of the European Union.
