The Austrian government intends to use “its six months’ presidency of the European Council to forge closer relations with the citizens of Europe and regain their trust in the European project”. The Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel said so in his message at the start of his term as President of the Council on 1st January 2006. He also spelt out some of the priorities of the Austrian Presidency, including the conclusion of the inter-institutional negotiations (between Council, Parliament and Commission) on the plurennial budget and the re-launch of the Constitutional Treaty. “The role of Europe added the Austrian Chancellor is to be useful but also to protect. For this reasons I have particularly close at heart the need for us to keep alive the idea of a common Europe, united in diversity, and to support it through specific projects. Together we want to give new impetus to Europe”. Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik has also issued a message on the website of the Presidency (www.eu2006.at), in which she expresses the hope that Austria may “represent a vitamin for the Union”.
